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OF THE HINDUS.
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same province. Pilgrims come from all parts of India to these places at all seasons, but the principal Melás are held at the former in Magh, and in Kártik at the latter. On the western side of India the mountains of Abú' and Girinár are the great scenes of pilgrimage, being covered with Juin temples and remains. RISHABHA DEVA and NEMINÁTH seem to be the favourite divinities in that quarter.
Besides these particular festivals, the Jains observe several that are common to the Hindus, as the Vasantayútrá, or spring festival, the Sripanchami, and others; they also hold in veneration certain of the Lunar days, as the 2d, 5th, Sth, 11th and 12th; on these no new work should be undertaken, no journey commenced, and fasting, or abstinence at least, and continence should be observed.
The origin of the Jain faith is immersed in the obscurity which invests all remote history amongst the Ilindus. That it is the most recent of all the systems pursued in Hindustan is rendered highly probable by the extravagances in which it deals, by the doctrines it opposes to those of all other schools, and by the comparatively recent date of many Jain authors of celebrity and of numerous monumental relics; but
latter name, it and other celebrated Jaina shrines in Behár are described by a Native traveller, a Jain, in the service of Colonel MACKENZIE, in the Calcutta Magazine for June, 1823. See Asiatic Researches, Vol. XVI. Jain Inscriptions at Abú.
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