ty-four, which are said to date from
the tenth century A.D.

Apart from these divisions, all Jain communities are differentiated into
laymen and members of the order or Yatis, literally strivers. It is
recognized that laymen cannot observe the five vows. Killing, lying, and
stealing are forbidden to them only in their obvious and gross forms:
chastity is replaced by conjugal fidelity and self-denial by the
prohibition of covetousness. They can also acquire merit by observing
seven other miscellaneous vows (whence we hear of the twelvefold law)
comprising rules as to residence, trade, etc. Agriculture is forbidden
since it involves tearing up the ground and the death of insects.

Mahavira was succeeded by a long line of teachers sometimes called
Patriarchs and it would seem that their names have been correctly
preserved though the accounts of their doings are meagre. Various
notices in Buddhist literature confirm the idea that the Jains were
active in the districts corresponding to Oudh, Tirhut and Bihar in the
period following Mahavira's death, and we hear of them in Ceylon before
our era. Further historical evidence is afforded by inscriptions[270].
The earliest in which the Jains are mentioned are the edicts of Asoka.
He directed the officials called "superintendents of religion" to
concern themselves with the Niganthas[271]: and when [272] he describes
how he has provided medicine, useful plants and wells for both men and
animals, we are reminded of the hospitals for animals which are still
maintained by the Jains. According to Jain tradition (which however has
not yet been verified by other evidence) Samprati, the grandson of
Asoka, was a devout patron of the faith. More certain is the patronage
accorded to it by King Kharavela of Orissa about 157 B.C. which is
attested by inscriptions. Many dedicatory inscriptions prove that the
Jains were a flourishing community at Muttra in the reigns of Kanishka,
Huvishka and Vasudeva and one inscription from the same locality seems
as old as 150 B.C. We learn from these records that the sect comprised a
great number of schools and subdivisions. We need not suppose that the
different teachers were necessarily hostile to one another but their
existence testifies to an activity and freedom of interpretation which
have left traces in the multitude of modern subsects.

Jainism also spread in the south of India and before our era it had a
strong hold in Tamil lands, but our knowled