Appendix:—Epigraphic testimony to the continuity of the Jaina
tradition

SKETCH OF JAINA MYTHOLOGY, by J. BURGESS.




THE INDIAN SECT OF THE JAINAS.

The _Jaina_ sect is a religious society of modern India, at variance
to Brahmanism, and possesses undoubted claims on the interest of all
friends of Indian history. This claim is based partly on the peculiarities
of their doctrines and customs, which present several resemblances to
those of Buddhism, but, above all, on the fact that it was founded in the
same period as the latter.

Larger and smaller communities of _Jainas_ or _Arhata_,—that is
followers of the prophet, who is generally called simply the
_Jina_—'the conqueror of the world',—or the _Arhat_—'the holy
one',—are to be found in almost every important Indian town, particularly
among the merchant class. In some provinces of the West and North-west, in
Gujarât, Râjputâna, and the Panjâb, as also in the Dravidian districts in
the south,—especially in Kanara,—they are numerous; and, owing to the
influence of their wealth, they take a prominent place. They do not,
however, present a compact mass, but are divided into two rival
branches—the _Digambara_ and _Śvetâmbara_ [Footnote: In notes
on the Jainas, one often finds the view expressed, that the _Digambaras_
belong only to the south, and the _Śvetâmbaras_ to the north. This is
by no means the case. The former in the Panjâb, in eastern Râjputâna and