JAINAS, sects of Hindus scattered up and down India, allied to the Buddhists, though ecclesiastically in open antagonism to them; they reject the Veda of the Brahmans, and oppose to it another of their own, as also their caste and their sacerdotalism, though they observe the rules of caste among themselves; like the Buddhists, they are divided into an ascetic class and a lay, but monasticism is not developed to the same degree among them.  There are two principal sects, “the white-gowns” and “the air-clad,” i. e. naked, though it is only at meals, which they eat in common, that the latter strip naked; “Not only do they abstain from animal food, but they drink only filtered water, breathe only through a veil, and go sweeping the ground before them for fear of swallowing or crushing any smallest animalcule.”  In religion they are atheists, and admit of no Creator or of any perfection of being at the beginning, only at the end.  They distinguish between soul and body, and regard the former as eternal; evil is not in mere existence, but in life, and their Nirvana is a blessedness without break or end.  We know little or nothing of the history of these sects; with them conduct is everything; their origin is of later date than that of the Buddhists.  See BARTH’S “RELIGIONS OF INDIA,” translated by the Editor.

JALAPA (16), capital of the Mexican State of Vera Cruz, is prettily situated at the base of the Cordilleras, 60 m.  NW. of Vera Cruz city.

JALISCO (1,250), a maritime state in Mexico facing the Pacific; consists chiefly of elevated plateau; enjoys a fine climate; has long-established mining industries, some agriculture, and a growing trade in cotton and woollen goods, tobacco, &c.; capital, Guadalajara.

JAMAICA ("Land of Springs”) (640, of which 15 are whites), a British crown colony, the largest and most important of the British West India Islands; is one of the Greater Antilles group, and lies some 90 m.  S. of the eastern end of Cuba; its greatest length E. and W. 144 m.; is traversed by the Blue Mountains (7400 ft.), whose slopes are clad with luxuriant forests of mahogany, cedar, satin-wood, palm, and other trees; of the numerous rivers, only one, the Black River, is navigable and that for only flat-bottomed boats and canoes; there are many harbours (Kingston finest), while good roads intersect the island; the climate is oppressively warm and somewhat unhealthy on the coast, but delightful in the interior highlands; for administrative purposes the land area is divided into three counties, Surrey, Middlesex, and Cornwall; the chief trade-products are dye-woods, fruit, sugar, rum, coffee, and spices; discovered in 1494 by Columbus, and since 1670 a possession of England.

JAMES, the name of three disciples of Christ; James, the elder son of Zebedee, by order of the high-priest was put to death by Herod Agrippa; James, the younger son of Alphaeus; and James, the brother of the Lord, stoned to death.