Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c27.s1.54

v2.c27.s1.54

Privileges of Jains.—The shrine of Eklinga is endowed with twenty-four large villages from the fisc, besides parcels of land from the chieftains ; but the privileges of the tutelary divinity have been waning since Kanhaiya fixed his residence amongst them ; and as the priests of Apollo complained that the god was driven from the sacred mount [518] Govardhana, in Vraj, by the influence of those of Jupiter ² with Shah Jahan, the latter may now lament that the day of retribution has arrived, when propitiation to the Preserver is deemed more important than to the Destroyer. This may arise from the personal character of the high priests, who, from their vicinity to the court, can scarcely avoid mingling in its intrigues, and thence lose in character : even the Ranis do not hesitate to take mortgages on the estates of Bholanath.³ We shall not further enlarge on the immunities to Eklinga, or the forms in which they are conveyed, as these will be fully discussed in the account of the shrine of Krishna ; but proceed to notice the privileges of the heterodox Jains—the Vidyavan ⁴ or Magi of Rajasthan. The numbers and power of these sectarians are little known to Europeans, who take it for granted that they are few and dispersed. To prove the extent of their religious and political power, it will suffice to remark that the pontiff of the Khadatara-gachchha,¹ one of the many branches of this faith, has 11,000 clerical disciples scattered over India; that a single community, the Osi or Oswal,² numbers 100,000 families; and that more than half [519] of the mercantile wealth of India passes through the hands of the Jain laity. Rajasthan and Saurashtra are the cradles of the Buddhist or Jain faith, and three out of their five sacred mounts, namely, Abu, Palitana,³ and Girnar, are in these countries. The officers of the State and revenue are chiefly of the Jain laity, as are the majority of the bankers, from Lahore to the ocean. The chief magistrate and assessors of justice, in Udaipur and most of the towns of Rajasthan, are of this sect; and as their voluntary duties are confined to civil cases, they are as competent in these as they are the reverse in criminal cases, from their tenets forbidding the shedding of blood. To this leading feature in their religion they owe their political debasement: for Kumarpal, the last king of Anhilwara of the Jain faith, would not march his armies in the rains, from the unavoidable sacrifice of animal life that must have ensued. The strict Jain does not even maintain a lamp during that season, lest it should attract moths to their destruction.