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Jaina Iconography
of the Vedas as apocryphal and corrupt. The Jainas substitute, however, the Vedic Scripture by their own Angas and Sutras. They, in their difference, never accept the Hindu Sraddha or funeral rites nor do they venerate Hindu sacred places which they replace by their own having rites specially attached to them. A further point of their protest against Aryan orthodoxy is the exclusion of all but the twiceborn (Dvija) from the monastic fraternities, an attitude which ultimately brought into world this independent sect with an established rank of its own. Mainly, the two characteristic features, which should clearly mark out Jainism from all other religious systems are firstly, the extremity of tenderness shown towards all animal life, the tenet being called Ahimsa and secondly, the Saint-worship in which they assign to the Tirthankaras, a station even superior to that of the gods.
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In certain respects, on the other hand, the Jainas meet the orthodox Hindus on a common ground. For instance, they admit the institution of caste, observe the essential ceremonies, called the Samskāras and instal amidst their pantheon, a number of male and female deities of Brahmanism. Further, the Jainas, in many cases, employ the Brahmana Pujakas (Religious officiants) in their sanctuarics and some of their class freely intermarry with the Hindu Vaisyas.
In points of heterodoxy against Brahmanism, Jainism and Buddhism probably stand on a common platform. But despite their outward similarity, which led the late Mr. Hunter to remark on Jainism as "a religion allied in doctrine to ancient Buddhism but humanised by Saint-worship", both religions have certain doctrinal distinctions of leading importance. The conception of Nirvana in Buddhism differs essentially from the Moksa view of the Jainas. With the Buddhists, to be clearer, its proposed meaning is extinction whereas with the Jainas it has a positive significance implying absolute purity and freedom from the snares of Karma.' In Metaphysics, Jainism recognises a pluralistic realism and is more akin to the Nyāya-Vaiścṣika
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कर्मपाशविनिर्मुक्त: also कृत्स्नकर्मक्षयो मोक्ष: Tattrārthādhigama Sūtra (Asiatic Society, Bengal), p. 10.3.
