Jainism Early Faith of Ashoka

Author(s): Edward Thomas
Publisher: Trubner and Company London

Page 45

THE EARLY FAITH OF ASOKA.
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Nos. 6 and 12 rejoice in a “red” complexion, Nos. 8 and 9 are designated as “fair," No. 19 is described as “ blue," and No. 20 as " black." Párşwanátha is likewise "blue," while Mahávíra reverts to the typical “golden” hue, the parefa Suvarna chhavi, " the golden form " claimed alike for Sákya Muni.1
In illustration of this tendency to faith in emblems among the Jainas, I quote the independent opinion of Captain J. Low regarding the origin of the celebrated Phrabát, or ornamental impress of the feet of Buddha, and his demonstration of the inconsistent and inappropriate assimilation of the worship of symbols with the higher pretensions of the creed of Sákya Muni :
“ As the Phrabát is an object claiming from the Indo-Chinese nations a degree of veneration scarcely yielding to that which they pay to Buddha himself, we are naturally led to inquire why the emblems it exhibits are not all adored individually as well as in the aggregate. It seems to be one of those inconsistencies which mark the character of Buddhist schismatics; and it may enable us more readily to reach the real source of their religion, from which so many superstitions have ramified to cross our path in eastern research. To whatever country or people we may choose to assign
Chaitya, was a place originally appropriated to the preservation of relics, a practice as abhorrent to the feelings of the Jainas as it is to those of the Brahmans. The word Chaitya, when used by the Jainas, means any image or temple dedicated to the memory of a Tirthankara."-Kalpa Sutra, p. xxyi.
From quasi-Buddhist sources we derive independent Symbols of the Four Divisions of the Vaibháshika School. FOUR CLASSES. SUBDIVISIONS.
DISTINCTIVE MARKS. Rahula... 4 sects, using the Sanskrit Sakya's. tongue
Utpala padma(water-lily) jewel,
and tree-leaf put together in Kásyapa ......... 6 sects, entitled “the great the form of a nosegay. Brahman's. community," using a cor
rupt dialect............................ Shell or conch.
3 sects, styled "the class which Súdra's.
is honored by many," using the language of the Pisd chikas ............
.............. A sortsika flower. 2 . 3 sects, entitled “the class that Vaisya's. have a fixed habitation,"
using the vulgar dialect.... | The figure of a wheel.
Csoma de Körös, J.A.S.B. vol. vii. p. 143, 1 Asiatic Researches, vol. xv. P. 84.
* Examples of Jaina-Buddhist Foot-prints may be seen in Vol. III. N.ß. of our Journal, p. 159.
Upali.
K6