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SOME PARTICULARS OF THE JEYNES*
[Mr. Mordaunt Ricketts, the British Resident at the Court of Oude, visited Seringapatam, the capital of Mysore in 1805 A.D. and from there he wrote a letter to his friend, Lieut. Col. William Francklin (in service of the then East India Company and narrated therein some details of the Jains. The details are of general interest.
-Editor.] “There are still extant,' says Mr. Ricketts, 'some historical poems of the Jeynes, relating their destruction by the Brahmins, in several dialects of the Peninsula, such as the Chintamani, which is written in poetical Tāmu!, and there are traditions concerning them in almost every part of the country. The persecution in which they were ruined was chiefly fomented by Sankarācharya, a great leader of one of the Hindoo sects. One tradition at Seringapatam is, that during the reign of a certain rajah of Mysore, while the Brahmins and Jeynes existed conjointly, a considerable controversy occurred concerning the moon's age, between the reciters of the Panganyam belonging to the Jeynes and Brahminical sects. At last the rajah, being enraged, swore to destroy without mercy the sect which should be found to be erroneous in their calculations.
“The Jeyne calculations, from their superior skill in astronomy, were really correct, and those of the Brahmins crroneous ; but the latter, in their exigency, had recourse to one of their holy men, at a signal by whom, the moon, contrary to the laws of nature, suddenly appeared in heaven, to verify the Brahminical imposture. On this, the most merciless persecution was instantly fomented to the Jeynes. It is curious that the Brahmins should preserve this relation.
The Jeynes claim to themselves the composition of the Vedas, and the original materials of the Purānas, and indeed, of the principal books possessed by the Brahmins. From the whole train of their tenets, it is impossible to consider them as any other than a Brahminical sect, though differing from the common belief in many essential particulars. According to some, Boodh is the sect of Jeynes; but the Jeynes of Mysore disdain any connexion with the Boodhists and when they rise in the morning, the first thing they do is to recite a curse or imprecation on the Brahmins.
"The Jeynes are a religious sect which differs in many respects
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