On Jainas

Duarte Barbosa -a Portuguese traveler visited India during first quarter of 16th century. He writes vividly about Indians and their lifestyle,their dresses,customs,laws etc. He has this to say about Jain merchants when he visited Gujarat..
"These live amongst the Moors(Muslims), and trade with them in their goods. They are men who do not eat meat nor fish, nor anything that has life; neither do they kill anything,nor like to see it killed, because their idolatry forbids it them; and they observe this to such an extreme that it is something marvelous. For it often happens that the Moors bring them some worms or little birds alive, saying they intend to kill them in their presence; and they ransom them, and buy them to set them flying, and save their lives for more money than they are worth. And in the same way, if the governor of the country has got a man to be executed, these Banians unite together and buy him from the officers of justice, that he may not die; and frequently they sell him to them. An in the same manner Moors who beg for alms, when they want alms from these people, take great stones and strike themselves with them on the shoulders and the breast, and on their stomachs, as if they were going to kill themselves with them, and they receive alms not to do it, and to go away in peace. And others bring knives stab themselves in the arms and legs before them, in order to extract alms; and others come to their doors to decapitate rats and snakes and other reptiles, and they give them money not to do it, so that they are very ill-treated by the Moors.If these people meet with a band of ants in the road,they hasten out of the road, and go and look for a place to pass without treading upon them. They likewise sup in the daytime because they do not light candles at night, in order that the mosquitoes and other insects may not come and ide in the flame; and if of necessity they must have a candle, they keep them in lanterns of paper, or off stuff dipped in gum, so that no living thing can get there to suffer......"

And just when you start wondering how could these Jains survive with such a meek attitude other remarks from the author follows
"..they are usurers and falsifiers of weights and measures, and merchandise, and coin; and liars and cheat"

Tavernier - another traveler of medieval India makes similar observations
"The members of this caste are so subtle and skillful in trade that, as I've elsewhere said, they could give lessons to the most cunning Jews."(Jews were renown for their trade acumen)

I wonder whether its a mere chance that Jains evolved as a merchant community or was the commerce only option left for people adopting the doctrine of strict non violence.