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THE EARLY FAITH OF ASOKA.
establish the prominence of the Jaina religion, in the full developments of its sacred statues and associate inscriptions, at or about the commencement of our era.1
The Mathurá sculptured monuments have preserved for modern examination the nude images of the saints of the Jainas,2 with the devotional dedications of the votaries of the faith appended in all contemporary formality.
Jainism? "D'autres dirent: La ville de Mathoura, riche, éntendue, florissante, et animée par une population nombreuse, toute remplie d'hommes; ce palais du roi Soubáhou. D'autres dirent: Elle ne convient pas non plus; pourquoi ? Parce que ce roi est né dans une famille où les vues fausses sont héréditaires, et qu'il règne sur des hommes pareils aux barbares."-Lalita Vistara, Foucaux, p. 25.
1 General Cunningham was fully aware of the value of these discoveries, in their bearing upon the associate creeds of Jainism and Buddhism. That he should have ventured so far independently in the direction of the leading argument of this paper is highly encouraging. His remarks are to the following effect:
"This is perhaps one of the most startling and important revelations that has been made by recent researches in India. It is true that, according to Jaina books, their faith had continuously flourished, under a succession of teachers, from the death of Mahávíra in B.c. 527 down to the present time. Hitherto, however, there was no tangible evidence to vouch for the truth of this statement. But the Kankáli mound at Mathurá has now given us the most complete and satisfactory testimony that the Jaina religion, even before the beginning of the Christian era, must have been in a condition almost as rich and flourishing as that of Buddha.
"The Kankali mound is a very extensive one, and the number of statues of all sizes, from the colossal downwards, which it has yielded, has scarcely been 'surpassed by the prolific returns of Buddhist sculpture from the Jail mound. But, as not more than one-third of the Kankali mound has yet been thoroughly searched, it may be confidently expected that its complete exploration will amply repay all the cost and trouble of the experiment."-General Cunningham, Arch. Rep. vol. iii. p. 46.
Albírúní (A.D. 1030) has furnished us with a description of the forms of many of the Indian idols, derived from the text of Varaha-Mihira (sixth cent. A.D.). He defines the contrast between the statues of Buddha and those of the Arhats or Jaina saints in the following terms: "Si tu fais la statue de Djina, c'est-à-dire Bouddha, tâche de lui donner une figure agréable et des membres bien faits. Il doit avoir les paumes de la main et le dessous des pieds en forme de nénufar. Tu le représenteras assis, ayant des cheveux gris, et respirant un air de bonté, comme s'il était le père des créatures. S'il s'agit de donner à Bouddha la figure d'un arhanta, il faut en faire un jeune homme nu, bean de figure, et d'une physionomie agréable. It aura les deux mains appuyées sur les genoux," etc.-Reinaud, Memoires sur l'Inde, p. 121. Dr. Kern's translation, direct from the original Sanskrit text, gives: "The god of the Jainas is figured naked, young, handsome, with a calm countenance, and arms reaching down to the knees; his breast is marked with the Crivatsa figure."-J.R.A S. Vol. VI. N.s. p. 328. See also Wilson, J.A.S. Bengal, vol. i. p. 4; Burnouf, vol. i. p. 312. I omitted to notice in my previous references to nude statues (pp. 14, 18, 19, etc.), the remarkable expressions made use of by Calanus to Onesicritus; after "bidding him to strip himself naked, if he desired to hear any of his doctrine," he adds, "you should not hear me on any other condition though you came from Jupiter himself." Plutarch in Alexander. The exaction of these conditions seems to point to the tenets of Jainism.
While on the subject of discriminating points, I add to the information, outlined
