re
required to deliver sermons and explain the sacred texts in
the upas'rayas (separate buildings for monks like the Buddhist
viharas). The principle of extreme carefulness not to destroy any
living being has been in monastic life carried out to its very
last consequences, and has shaped the conduct of the laity in a
great measure. No layman will intentionally kill any living being,
not even an insect, however troublesome. He will remove it carefully
without hurting it. The principle of not hurting any living
being thus bars them from many professions such as agriculture,
etc., and has thrust them into commerce [Footnote ref 1].

Life of Mahavira.

Mahavira, the last prophet of the Jains, was a K@sattriya of
the Jnata clan and a native of Vais'ali (modern Besarh, 27 miles
north of Patna). He was the second son of Siddhartha and Tris'ala.
The S'vetambaras maintain that the embryo of the Tirtha@nkara
which first entered the womb of the Brahmin lady Devananda
was then transferred to the womb of Tris'ala. This story the
Digambaras do not believe as we have already seen. His parents
were the worshippers of Pars'va and gave him the name Varddhamana
(Vira or Mahavira). He married Yas'oda and had a daughter
by her. In his thirtieth year his parents died and with the permission
of his brother Nandivardhana he became a monk. After
twelve years of self-mortification and meditation he attained
omniscience (_kevala_, cf. _bodhi_ of the Buddhists). He lived to
preach for forty-two years more, and attained mok@sa (emancipation)
some years before Buddha in about 480 B.C. [Footnote ref 2].

The Fundamental Ideas of Jaina Ontology.

A thing (such as clay) is seen to assume various shapes and
to undergo diverse changes (such as the form of a jug, or
pan, etc.), and we have seen that the Chandogya Upani@sad held
that since in all changes the clay-matter remained permanent,
that alone was true, whereas the changes of form and state
were but appearances, the nature of which cannot be rationally

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[Footnote 1: See Jacobi's article on Jainism, _E. R.E._]

[Footnote 2: See Hoernle's translation of _Uvasagadasao_, Jacobi, _loc.
cit_., and Hoernle's article on the Ajivakas, _E. R.E._ The S'vetambaras,
however, say that this date was 527 B.C. and the Digambaras place it
eighteen years later.]

174

demonstrated or explained. The unchangeable substance (e.g.
the cla