ed
and set at liberty. Traitors, robbers or escaped prisoners who fled
for sanctuary to the dwelling of a Jain Yati or ascetic could not be
seized there by the officers of the court. And during the four rainy
months, when insects were most common, the potter's wheel and Teli's
oil-press might not be worked on account of the number of insects
which would be destroyed by them. [287]

15. Social condition of the Jains.

As they are nearly all of the Bania caste the Jains are usually
prosperous, and considering its small size, the standard of wealth in
the community is probably very high for India, the total number of
Jains in the country being about half a million. Beggars are rare,
and, like the Parsis and Europeans, the Jains feeling themselves a
small isolated body in the midst of a large alien population, have
a special tenderness for their poorer members, and help them in more
than the ordinary degree. Most of the Jain Banias are grain-dealers
and moneylenders like other Banias. Cultivation is prohibited by their
religion, owing to the destruction of animal life which it involves,
but in Saugor, and also in the north of India, many of them have
now taken to it, and some plough with their own hands. Mr. Marten
notes [288] that the Jains are beginning to put their wealth to a
more practical purpose than the lavish erection and adornment of
temples. Schools and boarding-houses for boys and girls of their
religion are being opened, and they subscribe liberally for the
building of medical institutions. It may be hoped that this movement
will continue and gather strength, both for the advantage of the
Jains themselves and the country generally.

Kabirpanthi

[_Bibliography_: Right Reverend G. H. Westcott, _Kabir and the
Kabirpanth_, Cawnpore, 1907; _Asiatic Researches_, vol. xvi. pp. 53-75
(Wilson's _Hindu Sects_); Mr. Crooke's _Tribes and Castes_,
article Kabirpanthi; _Central Provinces Census Report_ (1891), Sir
B. Robertson.]

List of Paragraphs

1. _Life of Kabir_.
2. _Kabir's teachings_.
3. _His sayings_.
4. _The Kabirpanthi sect in the Central Provinces_.
5. _The religious service_.
6. _Initiation_.
7. _Funeral rites_.
8. _Idol worship_.
9. _Statistics of the sect_.

1. Life of Kabir.

_Kabirpanthi Sect_.--A well-known religious sect founded by the
reformer Kabir, who flourished in the fifteenth century, and is called
by Dr. Hunter the