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198 INDIA AS DESCRIBED. IN EARLY TEXTS
'heroes as Vāsudeva, Baladeva, Punṇabhadda and Maņibhadda. In it are included, also the representatives of such religious orders as those of Ājivikas, Nigaạthas, Jatilas, Paribbājakas 1 and Aviruddhakas. The list also mentions elephants, horses, cows, dogs and crows among the objects of worship. The list given is not exhaustive. There are passages in which the upapattidevas are located in three spheres of the universe, those dwelling on the earth being called bhummā or terrestrial, those in the firmament as antarikkhacarā, and those in the highest region (äkāsatthā). At the time of the rise of Jainism and Buddhism it is inconceivable that the masses of people paid their homage to a particular deity of this class to the exclusion of the rest. On the other hand, the evidence tends to prove that all of them were included in a growing pantheon. And yet it is not incorrect to suppose that the masses were divided into several groups, each with its own supreme hero or object of worship, e.g., the Vasudevavatikas formed a group which had Väsudeva as its hero, and so as to the rest. That these popular groups represented different classes of devotees is evident from Pāņini's rule appertaining to Bhaktin As illustrations, Pāņini mentions the worshippers of Vāsudeva, Arjuna, Desa and
1 Law, Historical Glearings, Ohap. II. 12 Culla Niddesc, p. 173f.
