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INTRODUCTORY
mythology, ethics, ritual, and the rest, and is divided into several sects and subsects indicative of a long process of development. It has its own deities, gurus and scriptures, its own temples, places of worship and pilgrimage, and its own festivals and fairs. Besides by devotees, it possesses well organised monastic orders, comprising both male and female ascetics. The Jaina community, with its unique cultural heritage, has had formed from the days of yore an important section of the Indian people and has been drawing adherents from almost all the various races, castes and classes inhabiting the different parts of this ancient county. In theory, Jainism admits of no caste distinctions, but owing to the growing influence of orthodox Hinduism in mediaeval times, its caste system came to be more or less adopted by the Jainas as well, though still not so rigidly. At present, the bulk of the community is confined to more than two dozen subdivisions of the Vaisya caste, though stray members of the Brāhmaṇa, Kșatriya and Sūdra castes and of several unidentified caste-groups are also here and there seen professing Jainism. The Jainas have for long abstained from active proselytisation and there is no regular Jaina mission working in this direction, yet several Hindus, Muslims and Christians are known to have been converted to Jainism in the past hundred years or so. In its heyday, the Vedic religion, which gradually developed into Brāhmanism, posed a serious rival to the Rşabha Cult, or the creed of the Arhatas, Vrātyas or Šramaņas as Jainism was then variously described. The Ārhata-Bārhata, Vrātya-Vedic or Šramaņa-Brāhmaṇa rivalry became almost proverbial. Since the days of Mahāvīra and the Buddha (6th century B.C.) till the advent of Islam in India (12th century A.D.), the creed of the Nirgranthas, Jinas or Tirthankaras, that is, Jainism, maintained its position as one of the three major religions of the country, the other two being Brāhmaṇism (Hinduism) and Buddhism.
