we  do  not  exactly  know  what  was  in  this  respect  the  practice
of  the  Buddhists  in  India  even,  they  appear  to  have  sepa-
rated themselves  less  from  Hinduism  than  the  Buddhists
did,  and,  in  fact,  they  profess  to  be  Hindus.  They  have
taken  a  much  more  active  part  in  the  literary  and  scientific
life  of  India.  Astronomy,  grammar,  and  romantic  literature
owe  a  great  deal  to  their  zeaL  This  did  not  prevent  a
serious  animosity  springing  up  between  them  and  the
Brahmans,  which  was  marked  at  times  in  Gujarat  and  in
the  extreme  South,  among  other  places,  by  somewhat
bloody  episodes.^

Like  the  Buddhists,  they  are  divided  into  a  clerical
body  and  a  lay — into  Yatis  or  ascetics,  and  into  Qrdvahas
or  simple  hearers ;  but  the  monastic  system  appears  to
have  been  developed  to  a  less  degree  among  them.  At
present  their  Yatis  form  sorts  of  colleges,  kept  up  at  the
expense  of  the  communities,  but  the  members  of  which  no
longer  subsist  on  alms,  and  they  no  longer  admit,  as  they
formerly  did,  an  order  of  women.  They  are  divided  into
two  principal  sects — the  Qvetdmlaras,OT  "the  white  gowns,"
and  the  Digamharas,  or  "those  who  are  clothed  in  air,"
that  is  to  say,  who  go  naked — designations  these  which
have  passed  from  the  clergy  to  the  laity  as  well.  The
Qvetambaras  hold,  in  general,  the  first  rank,  but  the
Digambaras,  who  are  also  more  specifically  denominated
the  Nirgrantlias,  i.e.,  "  those  who  have  cast  aside  every
tie,"  appear  to  be  the  more  ancient ;  at  least  this  last  title
occurs  already  in  the  inscriptions  of  A^oka,^  and  in  all
probability  as  a  designation  of  the  Jainas.  Both  sects  are
mentioned  in  certain  inscriptions  of  Mysore,  which  go
back  as  far  probably  as  the  sixth,  perhaps  the  fifth,
century ;  ^  and  there  is  similar  evidence  of  their  presence

1  G.  Biihler,  in  the  Ind.  Antiq.,  xx.  The  tradition  of  the  Digam-
vi.  i86;  Lassen,  Ind.  Alterthumsk,  baras  places  the  schism  of  the  Cvetam-
vol.  iii.  p.  240  ;  R.  Caldwell,  A  Com-  baras  towards  the  end  of  the  first  cen-
parative  Grammar  of  the  Dra vidian  tury  a.d.  Jacobi,  Kalpasutra,  p.  15.
