Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/301

259 soul, returning to God from whence it sprung, becomes a part of his essence.

At present, however, none attain to such a pitch of holiness. The soul, released by death, is born again, either into a better or worse condition, according as the life has been good or bad. So again, and again, and again, the same soul may live ten million times on earth-now a dog, next a man or bird. Some, however, pass at once to heaven or hell.

The heavens, according to this system, are sixteen, graduated, according to the merit of the soul, from a thousand to thirty-three thousand years of bliss. The hells also, seven in number, vary in the length and degree of suffering.

The religious tenets of the Brahmins having been adopted by the great mass of the Hindus, the Jainas say that they took the attitude of Protestants against these innovations. They withdrew and formed a separate body. The hatred and strife of the two sects at last resulted in a bloody and long-continued war. The Jainas were everywhere defeated, and then persecuted. Many of them fled to other countries, carrying their religion with them. The rest yielded to the ruling party. At the present