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JAINA LITERATURE IN TAMIL
137
vegetarians, whereas the Gauda-brāhmaṇas all eat fish and some eat meat also. Bengal brāhmaṇas who belong to the Pañca-gauda group eat fish and meat. It is normal with Bengal brāhmaṇas to offer goat or buffalo as sacrifice to the goddess Kāli and carry home meat as Kāli's prasāda. Such a thing is unthinkable in any of the Hindu temples in the south, whether dedicated to Vişņu or Siva. Hence it may not be altogether an exaggeration to state that in the matter of purity of temple worship the Jaina doctrine of ahiņsā has been accepted and preserved by the upper class of Hindus in the Tamil land even up to the present day. Of course there are scattered places where animal sacrifice is offered to the Village Gods. But it must be said to the credit of the upper classes among the Tamil Hindus that they have nothing to do with this grosser form of Kāli worship. With the growth of education and culture, it may be hoped that even these lower orders in Tamil society will give up this gross and ignorant form of religious worship and elevate themselves to a higher religious status actuated by purer aud nobler ideals.
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