The Heart of Jainism/Chapter 13
Temple
worship.The Jaina are most courteous in permitting outsiders to witness the ritual of their temples, only asking that the spectators should remove their shoes. In the Digambara temples the idols are nude, and the eyes are cast down as a sign that the saint represented is lost to all worldly thought. The Śvetāmbara, like the Digambara, have images of the Tīrthaṅkara sitting in meditation in the Kāusagga position with legs crossed and hands in the lap, but unlike the Digambara their idols are given loin-cloths, have staring glass eyes looking straight in front of them, and are adorned with necklaces, girdles and bracelets of gold. The writer has elsewhere fully described the worship in the temples:[1] here it may suffice to give only a short summary.
Digam-
bara
worship.The officiant in a Digambara temple must himself be a Jaina (though this is not the rule among the Śvetāmbara), and he will never eat any of the offering made to the idol. In the course of the morning worship he washes the idol (Jaḷa pūjā) and dries it, being most careful that no drop of water falls to the ground, marks it with three auspicious marks of yellow powder (Ċandana pūjā), and offers rice (Akṣata pūjā) and dried (not fresh) fruit (Naivedya pūjā).
In the evening the worship consists of Āratī pūjā, when a five-fold lamp is solemnly waved from left to right for a few minutes in front of the idol.
Śvetām-
bara
worship.The strange part of Śvetāmbara worship is that, if no Jaina be present, it can be performed by a non-Jaina, and the writer has at various times seen paid officiants who were Brāhmans, gardeners, or farmers by caste performing the ritual.
If, however, a devout Jaina be present, he will, after bathing and changing his clothes to the two pieces of cloth he keeps for the purpose in the little dressing-room outside the temple, often bid as much as five annas for the privilege of performing the Jaḷa pūjā, when he will carefully wash the idol with water, then with milk, and then again with water; the same worshipper might also perform Aṅgaluñċhanā pūjā and dry the idol with five or ten separate cloths, which are kept in the temple, and whose number seems to vary according to the wealth of the shrine. A worshipper may do the Ċandana pūjā and mark the idol with fourteen auspicious marks, but only the paid officiant is allowed to perform the Aṅga pūjā, since this involves the handling of the valuable jewellery belonging to the idol. If the worshipper for whose benefit it is performed has paid a large sum, such as fifty rupees, the best crown, necklace, ear-rings, bracelets, armlets and girdle, all wrought in pure gold, will be brought out and put on the idol; if he only offers, say, twenty-five rupees, the idol will only wear its second-best silver-gilt ornaments. Then flowers and garlands (Puṣpa pūjā)[2] are offered, and this completes that part of the ritual for which special dress must be worn, and the performance of which is restricted to men.
The remaining acts of worship can be done by women, or by men in their ordinary dress, since the inner shrine need not be entered. They consist of Dhūpa pūjā, the waving of a stick of incense before the shrine; Dīpa pūjā, the waving of a lamp; Akṣata pūjā, the offering of rice; Naivedya pūjā, the giving of sweetmeats; and Phaḷa pūjā, the offering of fruit. It is interesting to notice the way each different worshipper arranges the rice in the Akṣata pūjā; it is usually placed thus:
The Svastika sign (a) is intended to represent the Gati or state in which a jīva may be born as either a denizen of hell, or of heaven, a man, or a beast. The three little heaps (b) symbolize the Three Jewels of right knowledge, right faith, and right conduct, which enable a man to reach Mokṣa, represented by the sign (c).
When fruit is offered it is noticeable that the Śvetāmbara have no scruple about including fresh fruit in their gift, a thing which the Digambara—the stricter sect—will not allow, considering that by so doing they take life. The evening temple worship of the Śvetāmbara, as of the Digambara, practically consists in Āratī pūjā—waving a lamp before the shrine.
Meritorious as it is to perform the worship in the temples in one’s own town, far more merit is gained by doing so at places of pilgrimage, particularly at special seasons of the year. On great festival days at Ābu, Girnār, and above all Śatruñjaya the temple court is thronged with would-be worshippers, all out-bidding each other for the privilege of performing the various ritual acts, whilst the temple custodians, acting as auctioneers, employ the familiar wiles of the auction room to run up the price. The auctioning is carried on under the phraseology of bidding for ghī (melted butter), and the man who offers the most seers of ghī obtains the coveted privilege. No ghī of course changes hands, the seers being only a conventional phrase for a fixed number of annas.
The present writer saw a man at Śatruñjaya perform the cheapest service—the Sanātana pūjā—for which privilege he had paid only two annas, though at Ābu he would have paid at least five-and-a-quarter. After bathing and donning the two cloths, he marked the idol in fourteen places and filled up time by playing on a harmonium. He then took in one hand a tray containing roses, almonds, rice, saffron and sugar, and in the other a jug containing water and milk, and round the jug and round his wrist he tied a red thread. After performing Dīpa pūjā and Akṣata pūjā, he did what is called Ċamarī pūjā, i.e. gently waved a brush of cow's hair in front of the shrine, whilst the paid officiant was decking the big idol in its jewellery. He then placed a little image of a Tīrthaṅkara in front of the larger image in the inner shrine and bathed it and marked it with the auspicious marks. It was interesting to notice that whilst doing this he kept on showing the little idol its own reflection in a pocket looking-glass, as a thoughtful ladies' maid might have done to her mistress as she assisted at her toilette; he completed his service by offering the articles on the tray to the Tīrthaṅkara.
The next cheapest service to this, the Pañċakalayāṇa pūjā, costs the worshipper about five-and-a-quarter rupees.
The singing of the idol's praises, Saitavarṇana Stuti, can be done at any time and without the worshipper requiring to bathe or change. A man walks into the temple, makes the signs we noticed before
on a board and sings the idol's praises out of a hymn-book.
At Śatruñjaya behind one of the main temples are housed several solid silver chariots, and for the sum of about thirty shillings a pilgrim can seat himself in a tiny silver barouche and be drawn round the temple accompanied by silver elephants and other delights, and so feel that he is doing his pilgrimage de luxe.
The pilgrimage of all others, however, to try and do at Śatruñjaya is the 'Ninety-nine'. It takes about three months to perform, for the pilgrim must toil up the thousands of steps that lead from the bottom of the hill to the summit, encircle the most famous temple, and tramp down to the bottom again ninety-nine separate times, and the last days he must observe as strict fasts from food and drink. When the last toilsome ascent has been made, the priests drag out a silver throne, and, placing it under a canopy erected in the court of the main temple, set the image of a Tīrthaṅkara thereon. The pilgrim does the eight-fold worship (Jaḷa pūjā, Ċandana pūjā, Puṣpa pūjā, Dhūpa pūjā, Dīpa pūjā, Akṣata pūjā, Naivedya pūjā, and Phaḷa pūjā) eleven times over, and in the intervals hymns are sung to the accompaniment of a harmonium; and when the writer witnessed it, boys dressed in shepherd-plaid trousers and bright pink-frilled jackets danced to the jingling accompaniment of bells round their ankles. The pilgrim was in this case a little girl, who seemed to be utterly exhausted by fasting, thirst and fatigue.
Private
worship.The Sthānakavāsī Jaina, being non-idolatrous and having no temple which they can attend, naturally pay more attention to meditation and private worship than the other sects, and if the reader would really learn to understand the heart of Jainism, it will repay him to study their private devotions with some minuteness, since after all a man's meditations are generally a true reflection of his creed.
The Digambara Jaina are said to use a good deal of Sanskrit in their devotions; the Śvetāmbara employ both Sanskrit and Māgadhī; but the Sthānakavāsī, who claim to hold closest of all the sects to primitive practice, confine themselves as far as possible to Māgadhī. Sanskrit would seem therefore to have come into use with idol worship under Hindu influence, and where reverence is refused to images, the sacred language of the Brāhmans is also neglected.
Every devout Sthānakavāsī ought to rise two hours before sunrise in winter and summer, and, taking in his hands his rosary, consisting of 108 beads, recite the Navakāra mantra, saluting Arihanta, Siddha, Āċārya, Upādhyāya and Sādhu, and also Knowledge, Faith, Character and Austerity, and, this done, should if possible repair to the monastery. Every Apāsaro, as also every temple, has a little room where the Jaina keep their clothes for worship, which usually consist of five articles: two long pieces of cloth, one of which they wear round the loins and the other over the shoulders, a little strip to cover the mouth, a piece of cloth to sit on, and also a brush. The devout layman, wearing only the two cloths, sits down on what is in fact his prayer carpet, and, after asking permission from his guru, begs forgiveness of any living thing he may have injured on his way from his house to the monastery.
Sāmā-
yika.He is then in a position to perform Sāmāyika, the most essential portion of which, Karemi bhante, consists in the repetition in Māgadhī of a vow which might be thus translated:
'I vow that I will not sin in regard to Dravya for the space of forty-eight minutes anywhere in the whole world. In right earnest I vow not to sin in any of the six ways. O adorable one, I take this vow, and I will keep it in this manner: I promise to keep it in thought, word and deed myself, and not to cause others to break it in thought, word, or deed. Again, O adorable one, I thus free myself from all sinful actions; I condemn them in the presence of my spirit and preceptor, and I vow to keep my spirit free from such actions.'
Ċauvī-
santtho.The worshipper then praises the twenty-four Tīrthaṅkara of the present age in Māgadhī verse (Ċauvīsanttho[3]), which might be rendered:
'I sing the praise of the twenty-four Tīrthaṅkara and other Kevalī, who have shed the light of religion on this world, who formed communities and so became Tirthankara. I salute Ṛiṣabhadeva, Ajitanātha [here follows the list of the twenty-four]. I praise these and all others who have shaken off the dust of karma and have destroyed old age and death. May these twenty-four Tīrthaṅkara show mercy to me. May these Tīrthaṅkara, famed in this world, whose praises I have sung, whom I have worshipped in mind, and who are excellent in this world, grant me that religion in which meditation forms the chief part and which protects from all diseases.
Ye are brighter than the moon, more brilliant than the sun, more awe-inspiring than the ocean. Grant to me, O Siddha, to reach Siddha-hood.'
Vandaṇā.Next follows Vandaṇā, i. e. salutation and prayer for Vandana. forgiveness to the guru, if he be present, or in his absence to the north-east corner of the building, that being the direction in which Mahāvideha, the abode of the Tīrthaṅkara, is said to lie. All sects, even when they add special Vandaṇā referring to idol worship, seem to use a general form, which could be freely translated as follows:
'O forgiving Sādhu! I desire to bow to you and to salute you to the best of my bodily powers, forsaking all evil actions. Permit me to approach you, to touch your lotus-like feet. I touch them. Pardon me if the touch annoys you. O adorable! The day is passing away. O adorable, holy as a place of pilgrimage! I crave forgiveness from you for all the evil actions I may have done during the course of this day. If I have committed any of the thirty-three errors (aśātanā), if I have done anything wrong through body, speech, or thought, or from anger, pride, deceit, or greed, and if during this day I have in any way or at any time violated any of the duties enjoined by religion, I would be free, O forgiving Sādhu, from all such sins, which I condemn and condemn again in your presence. I will keep my spirit free from such sins.'
Paḍīkamaṇuṁ. Paḍīkamaṇuṁ[4] proper then follows, in which the Twelve Vows are repeated and any breach of them is confessed. This part of the devotions is most lengthy, as sins are confessed in all their subdivisions: for instance, if the worshipper has sinned against knowledge in any of fourteen ways, or against faith in five ways, or has uttered any of the twenty-five kinds of falsehood; the eighteen classes of sin are also enumerated at this time, and the man confesses any sins he may have committed in respect of any of them, or against any of the Pañċa Parameśvara (or Five Great Ones). Every sect and sub-sect practises Paḍīkamaṇuṁ, but of course with infinite variation in the forms of confession used. The Sthānakavāsī make their confession in a form in which Māgadhī and vernacular words are mingled.
Kāusagga. The worshipper then seats himself cross-legged and repeats the salutation to the Five Great Ones (i. e. Navakāra mantra), says again the Karemi bhante, and then repeats the very interesting Iċċhamiṭhāmi Kāusagga, which might be translated as follows:
'I now wish to arrest all the functions of my body. Before doing so, however, I pray for forgiveness if I have committed any fault (Atiċāra) in body, speech, or thought during this day, if I have acted contrary to the scriptures, or gone astray from the path of mokṣa, or done anything against the laws of religion, or unworthy of doing; I ask forgiveness if I have thought evil of others, entertained unworthy thoughts, acted in ways undesirable, longed for undesirable things, or if I have done anything unworthy of a Śrāvaka (devout Jaina layman) in respect of the three Jewels, the three Gupti, the four Kaṣāya, the five Aṇuvrata, the three Guṇavrata, the four Śikṣāvrata, or violated any of the twelve duties of a Śrāvaka. May all such faults be forgiven.'
The worshipper then performs the fourth part of Kāusagga by reciting the Tassottarī pāṭha, in which he says:
Sitting in one place I will now arrest all my bodily functions in order to purify and sanctify my spirit and to remove all darts (Śalya), and other sins from it. My arresting of bodily functions (Kāusagga) must not be regarded as broken, however, by any of the thirteen actions of inhaling, exhaling, coughing, sighing, sneezing, yawning, hiccoughing, giddiness, sickness, swooning, slight external or internal involuntary movement, or winking. I will also hold my spirit immovable in Kāusagga and in meditation and silence, until I recite Namo arihantāṇuṁ; until then I will keep it free from sin.'
Paċa-
khāṇa. The sixth and last part of Paḍīkamaṇuṁ is called Paċakhāṇa and consists of vowing to abstain from four kinds of food, for an hour if it is said at the morning Paḍīkamaṇuṁ, or for the coming night when it is repeated in the evening. The promise runs as follows:
'I take a vow to abstain from the four following kinds of food: food, drink, fruits, spices, in thought, speech and deed. I promise to keep my soul away from those four, provided that they are not forced on me or given to me whilst I am in a state of unconsciousness or meditation.'
There are at least ten variations of this vow: a man may promise to eat only once a day, or not until three hours after sunrise, or to take only one sort of food, or to fast altogether; but every variation seems to show the stress the Jaina lay on the duty of fasting, an emphasis that is easily understood in a religion whose adherents hope eventually to die fasting, and which teaches that the greatest crimes are those committed for the sake of eating.
Some Digambara Jaina, instead of taking a vow to fast, apparently promise to abstain from their specially besetting sins. At the end of Paḍīkamaṇuṁ and at the end of Sāmāyika the worshipper performs Namotthuṇaṁ or general praise.
The different parts of Paḍīkamaṇuṁ need not be said in any exact order, but it should generally last about forty-eight minutes every morning, and, since it is a daily duty, it is also called Āvaśyaka.
At the end of it a devout layman would go to the Apāsaro and if possible hear a guru preach, and on returning to his house would give alms to a'sādhu or to a poor man. He breakfasts about ten or eleven, then goes to business, returning in time to take his last meal about five o'clock in the afternoon, so that he may have his meal over before sunset, since no Jaina may eat after dark.
Evening
worship. In the evening, and if possible in the monastery, he makes confession of the sins of the day (Devasīya Paḍīkamaṇuṁ), sings praises (Sajhāya Stavana), and vows not to eat till sunrise, and before he sleeps he must tell his beads and do salutation to the Five three times over. If he is a very devout layman, he will repeat the Santhāro pāṭha, reflecting that he may never wake again, and so be prepared to make a meritorious death.
Scripture
reading. Some time during the day the layman should read one of the scriptures, unless hindered by any of the thirty-two reasons, such as having been near a dead body, or finding a bloodstain on his clothes, or being in any other way ceremonially impure. Again, he must not read the books if there is a mist, or a thunderstorm, the fall of a meteor, an eclipse, a full moon, no moon, or when a great king or even a great man dies, or if the sky has been red at sunrise or sunset, or if there has been a dust-storm. He must not read them on any of the first three days of the bright half of the moon, in a house where meat is eaten, near a funeral pyre, on a battle-field, or in the twilight of the early morning or late evening. In fact on any day that a SthanakavasI Jaina feels too lazy to read the scriptures, he can find some ceremonial reason to prevent his doing so, and hence the scriptures are not in actual fact much studied by them.
Pajju-
saṇa.The ordinary routine of daily worship of course alters on the great days of Fasts or Festivals; for instance, at Pajjusaṇa, the solemn season which closes the Jaina year, many devout laymen fast for eight days or even longer and attend special services at the Apāsarā. They also take this opportunity of doing poṣadha,[6] i. e. temporarily becoming a monk. We have seen how the whole teaching of Jainism tries to lead the laity along the path of asceticism towards deliverance, and during the fast of Pajjusaṇa householders are urged to live a monk's life for at least twenty-four hours. During the twenty-four hours that he is performing poṣadha a layman never leaves the monastery, but spends his time in meditation and fasting. As a matter of fact every householder is supposed to perform poṣadha twice a month, but the generality of Jaina content themselves with doing it at the end of the year. If poṣadha be too exacting, a layman may observe the partial fast of dayā or saṁvara, when, though he sit in the monastery for some fixed period, he may take food and boiled water at will.
Saṁvat-
sarī.The closing day of the Jaina year and of Pajjusaṇa, SamvatSaṁvatsarī, is the most solemn fast of all. Every Jaina fasts throughout the day from food and water, and the Apāsarā are crowded with men and women making their confessions. No outsider can visit these gatherings without being deeply impressed with the determination of all present to carry no grudge and no quarrel over into the next year. At the close of the meeting every one present asks forgiveness from his neighbours for any offence he may even unwittingly have given, and they all write letters to distant friends asking their forgiveness also. This determination to start the new year in love and charity with their neighbours they do not confine to their own community; for example, the writer used to be bewildered by receiving letters from Jaina friends and pandits who had never offended her in any way asking her forgiveness in case they had unwittingly vexed her. One cannot help feeling that this beautiful custom of the Jaina is one of the many precious things they will bring as their special tribute to that City of God into which at last shall be gathered all the glory and wealth of devotion of the nations.
Some time during the Pajjusaṇa week the Śvetāmbara Jaina often arrange a special procession though the town in honour of their Kalpa Sūtra.
Another pageant the same sect arrange is a cradle procession on Mahāvīra's birthday, which is now conventionally fixed for the first day of Bhādrapada, the fourth day of Pajjusaṇa. Sthānakavāsī Jaina are not permitted to celebrate the day, lest it should lead to idolatry, but the other sects decorate their temples with flags on this and on the conventional birthdays of other Tīrthaṅkara.
Divālī. Curiously enough Divālī, the next great holy day of the Jaina, is really a Hindu festival in honour of Lakṣmī, the goddess of wealth. All through our studies, however, we have seen the great influence that Hinduism has exerted on Jainism, and here it pressed a mercantile community at its weakest point, its love of money; naturally enough such a community was not willing to omit anything that could propitiate one who might conceivably have the bestowal of wealth in her power. The festival has, however, been given a Jaina sanction by calling it the day on which Mahāvīra passed to mokṣa, when all the eighteen confederate kings made an illumination, saying: 'Since the light of intelligence is gone, let us make an illumination of material matter.' How thin this excuse is, is shown by the fact that the celebrations seem, despite the protests of the stricter Jaina, to be more concerned with the worship of money than with the passing of Mahāvīra. On the first day (Dhanateraśa) the Śvetāmbara women polish their jewellery and ornaments in honour of Lakṣmī, on the second (Kālīċaudaśa) they propitiate evil spirits by placing sweetmeats at cross-roads, and on the third (Amāsa) all Jaina worship their account-books—Śāradā pūjā. A Brahman is called who writes Śrī (i. e. Lakṣmī) on the account-books over and over again in such a way as to form a pyramid. The priest then performs Lakṣmī pūjā, the oldest obtainable rupee and the leaf of a creeper being placed on an account-book, and also a little heap of rice, pān, betel-nut and turmeric, and in front of it a small lamp filled with burning camphor is waved, and the book is then marked with red powder. No one closes the account-book for several hours, and when they do so, they are careful to say: 'A hundred thousand profits.'
Full-
moon
fasts. Perhaps the full-moon fasts also bear witness to Hindu influence; at any rate these days are carefully observed by the Jaina. The great religious excitement of the community is found in going on pilgrimages, and on the full-moon days that fall in October–November (Kārttikī punema), or in April–May (Ċaitrī punema), they try if possible to visit Śatruñjaya. On the other full-moon days, which fall in the spring and summer, they fast and hear special sermons, but the summer full-moon day (Aṣāḍhī punema) is one to which the ascetics pay special attention, for wherever they spend that day, there they must remain till the rainy season is over.
Jñāna
pañ-
ċamī. In connexion with the antiquity of the Jaina scriptures it is interesting to notice that once a year a fast is observed called Jñāna pañċamī, on which day all Jaina sacred books are not only worshipped but also dusted, freed from insects and rearranged. If only this custom had prevailed with regard to all English parish registers, how many of our records might have been saved!
Mauna-
gyārasa. We have studied the road through which a jīva passes by toilsome stages towards deliverance; to recall these steps to the popular mind, the Śvetāmbara (and a few Sthānakavāsī) once a year keep a solemn fast called Maunagyārasa on the eleventh day of some month, preferably the eleventh day of the bright half of Mārgaśīrṣa (November–December). The worshipper fasts absolutely from food and water and meditates, as he tells his beads, on each of the five stages (Sādhu, Upādhyāya, Āċārya, Tīrthaṅkara and Siddha) of the upward path, and the next day he worships eleven sets of eleven different kinds of things connected with knowledge, such as eleven pens, eleven pieces of paper, eleven ink-bottles, &c.
Saint-
wheel
worship. The worship of the Siddha ċakra, or saint-wheel, which is kept in every temple, serves also to remind the worshipper of the stages he must pass, for on the little silver or brass tray are five tiny figures representing the Five Great Ones (Sādhu, Upādhyāya, Āċārya, Tīrthaṅkara and Siddha), but between the figures are written the names of the three jewels (Right Knowledge, Right Faith, Right Conduct) and also the word tapa, austerity, which might almost be called the key-word of the whole Jaina system. This little tray seems to bear inscribed on it the Jaina Confession of Faith, and it is regarded as of so much importance that no Śvetāmbara temple is complete without it, and twice a year in the spring and autumn it is worshipped by having the eight-fold pūjā done to it every day for eight days. Jaḷajātra, or the water pilgrimage, is celebrated with much rejoicing once during each of these eight days, when the little tray is taken to some lake near the town and ceremonially bathed before being offered the eight-fold worship.
Days of
absti-
nence. Fasting is considered so important by the Jaina, that the more devout observe twelve days in every month as days of abstinence, but the less strict content themselves with fasting more or less strictly on five days.
Conse-
cration of
an idol. Besides the regularly recurring holy days of the year, there are special occasions of rejoicing, such as Añjanaśalākā (the consecration of a new idol), which is celebrated with great pomp, but which rarely occurs now owing to the enormous expense it entails on the donor of the idol. In the case of a Śvetāmbara idol, mantras must be repeated, the glass eyes inserted, and the statue anointed with saffron, before the idol is regarded as sacred, but the expense lies in the payment, not so much for this consecration, as for the feasting and processions which accompany it.
The
Bathing
of Goma-
teśvara Another rare act of Jaina worship is the bathing of colossal figures such as that of Gomateśvara at Śrāvana Belgolā, which takes place every twenty-five years. The actual bathing is not unlike the ordinary Jaḷa puja, and the privilege of pouring cups of curd, milk and melted butter over the idol is put up to auction.
Oḷi. There is one day, Oḷi or Āmbela, which is the fast par excellence of Jaina women. It occurs eight days before Ċaitrī punema, and all women who long for a happy wedded life (and every woman in India marries) fast from specially nice food for twenty-four hours, remembering that a princess once won health for her royal husband who was a leper by fasting and worshipping the saint wheel on this day.
Hindu
festivals. The ever-present influence of Hinduism is perhaps felt even more by Jaina women than by Jaina men, and it is they who insist on keeping the Hindu festival of Śītalāsātama, the festival of the goddess of small-pox, and the two feasts of Virapasalī, when brothers give presents to their sisters and the sisters bless them, and of Bhāībīja, when the sisters ask their brothers to their houses. Often also girls and women fast on the Hindu holy days of Bolachotha and Molākata. It is much to be regretted that many Jaina men and women, despite all the efforts of the reformers, still take part in the Holī celebrations—the detestably obscene festival of spring; thoughtful Jaina feel that it ill becomes a community who boast of their purity to share an alien festival of which all enlightened Hindus themselves are now ashamed. At Daśerā, the great Kṣatriya festival, the Jaina eat specially dainty food, and on Makarasaṅkrānti they fulfil the duty of charity by giving food to cows and clothing to the poor.
Jaina, of course, ought not to observe the Hindu death ceremonies or Śrāddha, and they have so far discontinued the custom, that they no longer throw food to the crows; but they still observe them to the extent of eating specially dainty food on those days.
Neither in the regular routine of their daily worship nor in the pleasurable excitement of their frequent holy days do the Jaina (and especially the Jaina women) find all the emotional outlet they need; and so, besides these recognized acts of ritual, they perform many others which are frowned on by their leaders. The women believe in nearly all the Hindu superstitions, so that they have as it were a second cult, that of warding off evil spirits and demons, to whom all their lifetime they are in bondage through fear.
The evil
eye. The ordinary people amongst the Jaina believe most strongly in the evil eye and are terrified of coming under its influence (Najarāi javuṁ), though it is quite contrary to the tenets of their creed. They fear perfect happiness, and whenever they see it, they believe that some person who is a favourite with some god or goddess, such as Melaḍī Mātā, Khoḍiyāra Mātā, Kālakā Mātā, or Bhairava Deva, will harm the happy one through jealousy. Anything dark or bitter will avert this, and so, if new jewellery is worn, a black thread is tied on to it; if a new house is built, a black earthen vessel is placed outside; and the writer was herself entreated to mark her only child with a black smear on the cheek-bone or at least behind the ear. In the same way at a wedding a lemon is tied in the turban of the bridegroom and in the dress of the bride, that something sour may safeguard the sweetness of their lot.
When illness occurs, it is put down to the influence of the evil eye. If a child has fever, or is sick after eating, the women at once say that its illness was caused by some person possessing the wicked power of the evil eye, and elaborate remedies are taken. A very usual method is to take a little cup and put in it smokeless burning embers, and over them mustard, salt and grain, till a fine smoke is made, and then to turn it upside down on to a brass plate, and, holding it firmly in position, to fix the two together with manure and water. They call this Najara bandhī and put it under the sick child's bed. After three or four days, when in the course of nature the fever has abated, they pull out the cup and plate and throw the contents away at a junction of three roads.
If a man is ill, one method of removing the influence of the evil eye from him is to wave a loaf of millet bread round his head and then give it to a black dog; if the animal eats it, they believe the influence of the evil eye passes into him. The more enhghtened Jaina declare that they have no fear of evil spirits (bhūta), but the women are very much afraid of them and, like all Indians, believe that Europeans share this fear and have their elaborate freemasonry ritual as a means of dealing with such spirits. Bhūta are specially active at Divālī time, and in order to prevent them coming to visit their homes, the women before Divālī go to some cross-roads where three or four ways meet, carrying water-pots. They make a circle in the dust with the water and in the centre of this place a small cake of grain. Indeed at any season when they are afraid of evil spirits visiting their house, they put vermilion, grain and something black into the bottom of a broken pot to guard against their coming.
Bhūta also live in pīpal trees, and during the last days of the month Śrāvaṇa one often sees women watering those trees to keep the evil spirits that live there happy and so prevent their coming out.
Ances-
tors. Śrāvaṇa is in fact an anxious month, and on the fifth day of it many Jaina women worship serpents, apparently to propitiate the spirits of their ancestors. They draw a picture of a snake on the walls of the room where the water-vessels are kept, in order to pacify the spirit of any of their forefathers who may have died suddenly in battle or been murdered before he could fulfil some strong desire he might have possessed; for they fear that such ancestors may return to carry out their interrupted purpose. To cool these desires, they encircle the picture of the snake three times with water (just as the lamp is waved before the idol at āratī) and offer it little cakes to make it happy.
The spirits of ancestors are also appeased once a year on either the eighth or twenty-ninth of Āśvina, when an offering of naivedya is made to them. A lamp is lighted and placed in some corner facing the quarter in which the ancestor once lived; an offering of sweetmeats is then made to the lamp and subsequently eaten by the offerers themselves.
Plague. When frightened by the prevalence of plague or cholera, the Jaina have recourse to the Brāhmans to ask how they shall appease the mela deva (evil god) who is affecting them. The priests instruct them to light a fire in their own houses and circumambulate it. Near the flames they place an offering of naivedya and then walk round the fire three times carrying water. After this they themselves eat the actual naivedya that has been offered and give dry materials for naivedya and money to the Brāhmans.
Small-
pox. In the same way, if a child actually has small-pox, or if there be an epidemic of it, a Jaina mother almost invariably goes to the shrine of Śītalā Mātā, the goddess of small-pox. whose shrine is to be found in almost every Indian village, and vows to make an offering of artificial glass eyes or money to the Mātā if her child recover or escape infection altogether.
Children. It is pitiful to see Jaina women who are childless going to Hindu temples and promising to offer cradles or money if only a little son may be born to them. They even promise that for three or four years the child shall be treated as a beggar, and no name given to him; all they ask is that their reproach may be taken away.
The orthodox Jaina declare that all these superstitions which their women folk have copied from the Hindus are contrary to their religion and indeed must even be accounted Mithyātva Śalya;[7] but they do not see that they are born of fear, and that they will only disappear when the timid ones begin to trust a personal God and learn that the All-Powerful is the All-Loving too.
- ↑ Notes on Modern Jainism, pp. 86 ff.
- ↑ The writer once saw flowers offered even in a Digambara temple at Borsad (Kaira district).
- ↑ Or Ċaturviṁśatistava.
- ↑ It should be noticed that the whole of their devotions is sometimes loosely called Paḍīkamaṇuṁ.
- ↑ For a full account of these see article 'Festivals and Fasts (Jain)' by the present writer in E. R. E., vol. v, pp. 875 ff.
- ↑ Or poṣaha.
- ↑ See pp. 130 ff.