This book is based on an Indian work, Parçvanātha Charitra, by Bhāvadeva Sūrī, published in 1912. The last of the Jain Tirthamkaras or deified Saints, Mahāvīra, is supposed to have flourished in the fifth or sixth century B.C. Parçvanātha is said to have lived 250 years before him. Beyond tradition there is little to prove that he was an historical personage; but the doctrines ascribed to him are fundamental in Jain legend, and this is the first complete account of the Saint accessible to Europeans. The book takes the usual form of accounts of the previous births of the Saint, interwoven with which are various tales and moral discourses. The notes by the translator in which variants of the tales and accounts of the beliefs and ceremonies of the Jains are given, are of considerable interest.
The object of this book is to describe how the ordinary business of Government—the maintenance of justice and the preservation of law and order—was carried on during that most troubled period in the life of our race, the seventeenth century. We have here a large collection of facts to illustrate social life: the Parish, the Churchwardens, the Anglican Priest and the Church, the Overseer of the Poor, the Petty Constable, the Repairs of Highways and Bridges, Labourers and Apprentices, Rogues and Vagabonds, the Social Life of the Village Community, and the Justice of the Peace. Many interesting customs are noted: Gang Week, or the riding round the Parish boundaries at Rogation-tide; Church Ales, Dog Whippers, the burning of juniper benzoin and frankincense in churches
