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TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
system entirely into the shade, till the waning light of Buddhism permitted its fainter radiance to reappear on the Western horizon*.
Mahávíra then, the great hero, as the name implies, of the Jain religion, was a Digambara, and went about in a state of perfect nudity. Pársvanáth, and all. his predecessors, if he had any, were clothed in decent apparel, with the single exception of Rishabha, of whom we shall immediately speak. Mahávíra, no doubt, considered the innovation he had made in the established system, a reformation, and necessary to show the perfect sage's entire superiority to all worldly feelings and passions. The common sense of Gautama led him to see that the natural and universal sentiments of mankind cannot be set at nought, or opposed with impunity, and, therefore, he moved about clothed in yellow garments. It was not unlikely, on this very point, that the split took place between him and the other chief men of the Jain community. In modern times, however, the great majority of them
*After writing the above, I found my conclusion anticipated by Mr. Colebrooke, and am happy therefore that it now goes abroad with the suffrage of so learned an Orientalist.Trans. R.A.S., vol. i., p. 522.
