Religion in Western Ganga kingdom of the eighth tirthankara, Chandraprabha. Padmavati was the "yaksi" of the twenty-third tirthankara, Parshva, and may have been derived from the Hindu namesake. Cult worship is considered consistent with the assimilation of forest and tribal dwellers into the Jain faith and a caste based society. While asceticism was upheld in the earlier period, an increased inflow of endowments from wealthy merchants and royalty made monks more settled in temples. Prayers, chantings, decoration and anointment of the deity in Digambara temples were carried out by upajjhayas or acharyas. In contrast, lay devotees in Svetambara derasars undertook these activities and the temple
Religion in Lebanon Religion in Lebanon Lebanon has several different main religions. The country has the most religiously diverse society of all states within the Middle East, comprising 18 recognized religious sects. The main two religions are Islam (Sunni and Shia) with 51% of followers and Christianity (the Maronite Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church) with 45% of followers. There is also the Druze minority religion, which under the Lebanese political division (Parliament of Lebanon Seat Allocation) the Druze community is designated as one of the five Lebanese Muslim communities (Sunni, Shia,