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TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. but these now are very few in number. The Jain laity are called Srávakas, i.e., Hearers ; the females being termed properly Srávakís. They have among them a modified form of caste; and what wonder, since in Southern India Mohammedans and Christians have the same ? They practise also a number of aboriginal and Brahmanical superstitions, at which the priesthood wink, though they disapprove of them.
8. The practical part of the Jain religion consists in the performance of five duties, and the avoidance of five sins. The duties are, 1st, mercy to all animated beings; 2nd, almsgiving; 3rd, venerating the sages while living, and worshipping their images when deceased ; 4th, confession of faults ; 5th, religious fasting. The sins are, 1st, killing ; 2nd, lying ; 3rd, stealing ; 4th, adultery; 5th, worldly-mindedness.
9. A striking feature of the Jain religion is, the keeping of the season of religious meditation, reading, and fasting, called the Paryushana, or, popularly, Pajjúsan. It corresponds to the Buddhist Wasso, and is divided into two parts, the fifty days that precede, and the seventy that succeed
