subcastes of Jain Banias. Other
important subcastes of Banias, as the Agarwal and Maheshri, have a
Jain section. Nearly all Banias belong to the Digambara sect, but the
Oswal are Swetambaras. They are said to have been originally Rajputs
of Os or Osnagar in Rajputana, and while they were yet Rajputs a
Swetambara ascetic sucked the poison from the wound of an Oswal boy
whom a snake had bitten, and this induced the community to join the
Swetambara sect of the Jains. [277]

9. Rules and customs of the laity.

The Jain laity are known as Shrawak or Saraogi, learners. There
is comparatively little to distinguish them from their Hindu
brethren. Their principal tenet is to avoid the destruction of all
animal, including insect life, but the Hindu Banias are practically
all Vaishnavas, and observe almost the same tenderness for animal life
as the Jains. The Jains are distinguished by their separate temples
and method of worship, and they do not recognise the authority of
the Vedas nor revere the _lingam_ of Siva. Consequently they do not
use the Hindu sacred texts at their weddings, but repeat some verses
from their own scriptures. These weddings are said to be more in the
nature of a civil contract than of a religious ceremony. The bride and
bridegroom walk seven times round the sacred post and are then seated
on a platform and promise to observe certain rules of conduct towards
each other and avoid offences. It is said that formerly a Jain bride
was locked up in a temple for the first night and considered to be
the bride of the god. But as scandals arose from this custom, she is
now only locked up for a minute or two and then let out again. Jain
boys are invested with the sacred thread on the occasion of their
weddings or at twenty-one or twenty-two if they are still unmarried
at that age. The thread is renewed annually on the day before the
full moon of Bhadon (August), after a ten days' fast in honour of
Anant Nath Tirthakar. The thread is made by the Jain priests of
tree cotton and has three knots. At their funerals the Jains do not
shave the moustaches off as a rule, and they never shave the _choti_
or scalp-lock, which they wear like Hindus. They give a feast to the
caste-fellows and distribute money in charity, but do not perform the
Hindu _shraddh_ or offering of sacrificial cakes to the dead. The
Agarwal and Khandelwal Jains, however, invoke the spirits of their
ancestors at weddings. Traces of an old hostilit