The union of the laity with the order of ascetics has, naturally,
exercised a powerful reaction on the former and its development, as well
as on its teaching, and is followed by similar results in Jainism and
Buddhism. Then, as regards the changes in the teaching, it is no doubt to
be ascribed to the influence of the laity that the atheistic Jaina system,
as well as the Buddhist, has been endowed with a cult. The ascetic, in his
striving for _Nirvâṇa_, endeavours to suppress the natural desire
of man to worship higher powers. In the worldly hearer, who does not
strive after this goal exclusively, this could not succeed. Since the
doctrine gave no other support, the religious feeling of the laity clung
to the founder of it: Jina, and with him his mythical predecessors, became
gods. Monuments and temples ornamented with their statues were built,
especially at those places, where the prophets, according to legends, had
reached their goal. To this is added a kind of worship, consisting of
offerings of flowers and incense to Jina, of adoration by songs of praise
in celebration of their entrance into _Nirvâṇa_, of which the
Jaina makes a great festival by solemn processions and pilgrimages to the
places where it has been attained. [Footnote: For the Jaina ritual, see
_Indian Antiquary_. Vol. XIII, pp. 191-196. The principal sacred
places or Tirthas are—Sameta Śikhara in Western Bengal, where twenty
of the Jinas are said to have attained Nirvâṇa; Śatruñjaya and
Girnâr in Kâthiâwâḍ sacred respectively to Ṛishabhanâtha and
Neminâtha; Chandrapuri where Vâsupûjya died; and Pâwâ in Bengal at which
Vardhamâna died.—Ed.] This influence of the laity has become, in course
of time, of great importance to Indian art, and India is indebted to it
for a number of its most beautiful architectural monuments, such as the
splendid temples of Âbu, Girnâr and Śatruñjaya in Gujarât. It has also
brought about a change in the mind of the ascetics. In many of their hymns
in honour of Jina, they appeal to him with as much fervour as the