ral temple surrounded by
others at the sides, and all are dominated by one which in the
proportions of its spire and courtyard surpasses the rest. Only a few
Yatis are allowed to pass the night in the sacred precincts and it is a
strange experience to enter the gates at dawn and wander through the
interminable succession of white marble courts tenanted only by flocks
of sacred pigeons. On every side sculptured chapels gorgeous in gold and
colour stand silent and open: within are saints sitting grave and
passionless behind the lights that burn on their altars. The multitude
of calm stone faces, the strange silence and emptiness, unaccompanied by
any sign of neglect or decay, the bewildering repetition of shrines and
deities in this aerial castle, suggest nothing built with human purpose
but some petrified spirit world.

Soon after dawn a string of devotees daily ascends the hill. Most are
laymen, but there is a considerable sprinkling of ascetics, especially
nuns. After joining the order both sexes wear yellowish white robes and
carry long sticks. They spend much of their time in visiting holy places
and usually do not stop at one rest house for more than two months. The
worship performed in the temples consists of simple offerings of
flowers, incense and lights made with little ceremony. Pilgrims go their
rounds in small bands and kneeling together before the images sing the
praises of the Jinas.

6

It is remarkable that Jainism is still a living sect, whereas the
Buddhists have disappeared from India. Its strength and persistence are
centred in its power of enlisting the interest of the laity and of
forming them into a corporation. In theory the position of the Jain and
Buddhist layman is the same. Both revere and support a religious order
for which they have not a vocation, and are bound by minor vows less
stringent than those of the monks. But among the Buddhists the members
of the order came to be regarded more and more as the true church[291]
and the laity tended to become (what they actually have become in China
and Japan) pious persons who revere that order as something extraneous
to themselves and very often only as one among several religious
organizations. Hence when in India monasteries decayed or were
destroyed, little active Buddhism was left outside them. But the
wandering ascetics of the Jains never concentrated the strength of the
religion in themselves to the same extent; the severity of their rul