The Heart of Jainism/Chapter 9
Babyhood.The importance of being born a man is early emphasized in Jainism; for the moment a child is born, if it be a boy, a brass tray is beaten by the proud father or other relatives in order to announce the happy event, and also, they say, to get the child used to noise from the first and to ensure that it shall never be frightened.
Whether the child be a girl or a boy, the exact moment of its birth is noted, that the astrologer may later on be able to draw its horoscope, on which its future marriage will depend.
The baby is then bathed in water and its little mouth is washed with wool dipped in a mixture of sugar-cane water and melted butter.
If the child be the first-born son of the household, the parents send presents of such things as sugar, sweets and fruits to their friends, but of course no such extravagance is indulged in if it be a girl.
Fifth day.When the little mite is five days old, its friends bind white threads round its neck, its hands and its feet for luck, and send presents of cooked sweetmeats to their friends.
Sixth day.The Jaina believe that a boy’s whole future is decided the night that he is six days old, and on that night Mother Chaṭṭhī is worshipped. A little stool in the sleeping-room is covered with a piece of white cloth, and on it are placed a white sheet of paper and a white pen, a lamp of melted butter is lighted, and then some relative takes the baby on her lap, covers its head, and worships both the stool and its contents before the family retire to rest. When all is quiet they believe that Chaṭṭhī or Vidartha will come and write secretly on the paper a description of the sort of fortune that will meet the child during life, and the length of time it will live, but no one is ever able to see, much less decipher, the mystic writing.
Ninth day.On the ninth (or with some sects the eleventh) day after the child's birth the mother is bathed. After the bathing she stands so as to face the sun and shakes from her finger a drop of kaṅku (turmeric).
Naming ceremony.When the baby is twelve days old, it is named with much ceremony. In a silk sārī (the shawl-like overdress of Indian women) are placed some grain, the leaf of a pipaḷa tree, a copper coin and a sopārī nut, and then four boys (or, if the child be a girl, four girls) are called, and each seizes a corner of the sārī and begins to rock it. The baby meanwhile is lying in the arms of the father's sister, and as the children rock the sārī and sing
Phaie pāḍyuṁ [Rāmjī] nāma,'
the aunt at the right moment declares the child's name, and of course also gives it a present; for while all the world over the profession of aunt is an expensive one, it is nowhere more so than in India.
Fifteenth day.Fifteen days after the child's birth, the mother goes to the river to fill the water-pots for the house. She takes with her seven different kinds of grain and a cocoa-nut. Arrived at the river, she lights a tiny earthenware saucer containing ghī, splits open the cocoa-nut, and, after arranging the grain in seven rows, she fills a water-pot from the river, and then, picking up one of the seven rows of grain, she puts it in her lap, and as she walks home carrying the filled water-vessel, she scatters the grain.
Haircutting.The next thing of great importance is the cutting of the child's hair. This is done when he or she has attained either the third, fifth, seventh, or ninth month of its first year. (The particular month is not of great importance, provided it be an uneven number.) The barber is called, and after the operation is over, he is given a special present, and a lucky mark is made on the child's forehead.
Feeding ceremony.On some auspicious day during the early months the feeding ceremony (Aboṭaṇa) takes place, at which the father’s sister again presides, but this time she gains, instead of giving, a present. The aunt takes the baby on her lap and places some dudhapāka[1] on a rupee, and seven times over takes some of this and places it in the child’s mouth, whereupon the father makes her a present.
Gotrījhāraṇāṁ.In another ceremony, Gotrījhāraṇāṁ, which takes place when the child is three (or sometimes five) months old, the aunt is once more the gainer. This time all the women of the household join in preparing specially dainty food in readiness for a feast, and then place on a stool some grain, some sopārī nut, some small copper coins and a silver coin; the baby is made to bow to this collection, and then the father presents the piece of silver to his sister and feasts all his friends. Very much the same ceremony is repeated when the child goes to school in either his fifth or seventh year.
Betrothal.The whole thought of a household in India seems to an outsider to centre round marriage and motherhood, and all the steps that lead up to them are marked with ceremonials. The age of betrothal (Sagāi) is steadily rising, and though it varies in different localities, a boy among the Jaina is usually betrothed about fifteen or twenty and a girl somewhat earlier. The parents on both sides look out for a suitable match, and when one has been discovered, the girl’s father sends to the boy’s father as a token of his intentions a cocoa-nut and a rupee, and a priest is called in to mark the forehead of the boy and his relatives with a ċāndalo or auspicious mark. A lucky woman (i.e. one whose husband is living and who has never lost a child) or a virgin then takes the cocoa-nut and marks a ċāndalo on it and on the rupee, and the boy’s father summons all his friends to a feast, to which each of the guests brings a cocoa-nut. After two or three days a present, consisting of a cocoa-nut and ten rupees, is sent back to the girl’s house as a sign that all goes well.
This, however, is only the beginning of the presentations, and in a few days another gift from the boy’s house follows, consisting of a complete costume in silk (sārī, skirt and bodice), five rupees in money, half a maund of crude and half a maund of refined sugar; hidden in the refined sugar are two rupees. Not to be outdone, the father of the girl sends something, though of less value: his gift consists of half a seer of crude and half a seer of refined sugar and the two rupees returned.
Jamaṇa.Then follow two children’s parties (Jamaṇa). First the boy’s father invites the little fiancée and some other children to a feast and gives her three silken garments, and afterwards the girl’s father invites the boy and some children to a feast in his house and makes him a present.
Samurata.After a short interval the boy’s father sends two more sets of silk clothes and some ornament worth perhaps Rs. 300, and the girl’s father replies with a substantial tip to the lucky servant who has brought the gift.
Laganapatra.By this time the parties are beginning to think of the actual wedding. An astrologer is called in who decides when everything will be auspicious and fixes the day, and this date is written in old ink and carried by some children from the bride’s house to that of the boy’s parents. When the bridegroom’s dwelling is reached, the child who bears the paper is placed on a stool, and one of the ladies of the house comes and takes the paper from him and gives him sugar in return. All the children are feasted, and that night auspicious songs are sung in both houses.
On either the fifth or the seventh day after this five ‘lucky’ women wreathe the future bride and bridegroom with flowers and rub them with powder.
Maṇḍapakriyā.About three days before the actual wedding ceremony a booth or maṇḍapa is erected, when appropriate songs are sung, and dates and sugar are divided amongst those who are present. The carpenter who is to erect the booth brings with him a special piece of wood, and on it is placed a green stick and some fruit, all of which are carefully placed in the hole dug for one of the poles that support the booth. A Brāhman next mixes together some curds, milk and sopārī nut, repeating as he does so appropriate mantras, and the bridegroom takes this mixture in his right hand and pours it over the pole of the booth. For a week from the date of the erection of the booth all near relatives of the bride and bridegroom are feasted.
Gaṇeśa worship.One of the most popular of the Hindu gods is Gaṇeśa, the remover of all hindrances, and at wedding times he is worshipped, not only by the idol-worshipping, but even by the non-idolatrous, sects among the Jaina. Accordingly the day after the erection of the booth even Sthānakavāsī Jaina bring an idol of Gaṇeśa to the maṇḍapa. A heap of grains, sopārī, rice and wheat is arranged on a stool covered with a white cloth, and Gaṇeśa is placed on the pile. Then around the stool they place twenty-five lāḍus in heaps of five, and twenty-five dates, and when this is done, two virgins carrying cooked rice in their hands come and worship the idol and mark it with auspicious marks. The relatives have also been summoned to come and worship Gaṇeśa, and they obey, bringing both wheat and rupees with them to offer to the idol. (After the wedding the paternal aunts of both bride and bridegroom will have the right to these rupees.) The bride and bridegroom are seated on stools near the god, and now a ‘lucky’ woman takes four pieces of wood, dips them in oil, and touches the bride and bridegroom’s heads with them. The paternal aunt plays an important rôle in the wedding, as she did in the other ceremonies, and she now comes forward and ties an iron ring on the bridegroom’s ċoṭalī[2] and gives him two rupees, and then an uncle of each of the couple lifts them down from their stool and gives them a few rupees. Sometimes seven lucky women come to the pair whilst they are still standing on the stool, and seven things are poured into their laps.
Ukaradī Notarī.Occasionally on the night after the booth was erected girls go outside the great gate of the house and, after singing auspicious songs, dig a little hole in which they place small copper coins and grains, carefully covering them afterwards with earth, and then re-enter the house singing.
Ċāka.About this time also the girls of the family go to a potter’s yard and mark his wheel with red powder and throw rice on it. The potter gives them some pots, which they bring back to the booth and place near the idol of Gaṇeśa.
Wedding day.When the actual wedding day arrives, the family goddess is worshipped, and fourteen girls are fed. The potter is again visited, and in exchange for a present of some three pounds of wheat, some dates and a cocoa-nut he provides four water-pots. Either the bride or the bridegroom is now seated in the booth, and ‘lucky’ women come and either bathe them or else content themselves with at least bathing a toe. The all-important aunt now comes forward and ties a silver ring where the iron one had been in the boy’s hair, and the maternal uncle gives some money to the lad and lifts him down from the stool.
The bridegroom is then dressed in his most magnificent clothes, and, carrying a cocoa-nut in his hand, goes on horseback in procession towards the bride’s house, but is met half-way by a procession from thence.
The actual marriage ceremony takes place after sunset, and is the occasion for some mild horse-play. The bride’s sister, for instance, goes out to meet the bridegroom’s procession, bearing a water-pot and a cocoa-nut. She makes the auspicious mark on the forehead of the bridegroom and then pinches his nose, and the groom’s party put some rupees in the water-pot. Some one then lifts the bridegroom down from his horse, and the lad raises the garlands from the doorway and passes in.
The bridegroom and his friends feast at some house quite close to the bride’s house, ladies present him with four lāḍus, and the barber powders his toe and then washes it. Sometimes the bride also goes and receives a sārī and some rupees whilst the bridegroom is feasting. When the dinner is over, the groom mounts his horse and goes to a temple to worship, and then returns to the bride’s house.
Tamboḷa ċhāṇṭaṇāṁThe bride, who is now sitting behind a curtain, spits betel-nut juice at the bridegroom, whilst his mother-in-law marks him with the auspicious ċāndalo, and then throws balls made of rice and ashes over him, and also waves water in a vessel round his head.
The bridegroom next takes his seat in the booth, and his friends bring his gift of clothing and ornaments, and after showing them to the committee of leading Jaina in the town (Mahājana), give them to the bride’s friends. The bride and bridegroom are now sitting side by side under the booth, and, after they have shaken hands, her sārī (shawl) is tied to his scarf, and he gives her some rings and other jewellery. The father and mother of the bride then offer some clothing and jewellery, and the father washes the hand of the bridegroom whilst the mother washes the bride’s hand, and when this is finished, the mother places the hand of the bride in that of the groom.
KanyādānaIn the centre of the booth a special fire has been lit, round which the boy and girl walk four times from left to right, the boy offering handfuls of sopārī nut to any lucky women he sees. The Brāhman cooks who are present and the mother-in-law offer sweetmeats to the couple, who, however, must refuse to take them. The young pair next go to the bride’s house and worship her gotrīja, and then to the house where the bridegroom had been staying and worship his gotrīja, after which the bride returns to her house laden with lāḍus, dates, rupees, and the kernels of four cocoa-nuts.
The feasting is kept up for three or four days, and then the bride’s parents summon the Mahājana, and in their presence give a suitable quantity of ornaments and clothing to the bridegroom, who distributes money in charity. After this is done, the bride’s parents give her leave to go and live in the bridegroom’s house.
As the bride leaves her home, she marks its walls with the imprint of her hands dipped in red powder; and when the couple pass the marriage booth, they stop at the stool and mark one of the groom’s party with the auspicious mark, a sārī being presented to the bride. The bride gets into the carriage holding a cocoa-nut, and a cocoa-nut is also placed under the wheel of the carriage in such a way that it shall be crushed and broken when the carriage starts. The moment this happens, the pieces are picked up and offered to the bride with four lāḍus and two brass vessels, and the wedding ceremonies are completed.
The first child.The whole position of the new daughter-in-law will depend on her bearing children, and the young mother is guarded in many ways from the supposed influence of evil spirits before and after the child’s birth.
Rākhaḍī bandhana.One of these protective ceremonies takes place during the fifth month, when the husband's sister binds a little parcel done up in black silk by a white thread to the wrist of the expectant mother. In the parcel are a cowrie shell, a ring of iron, a piece of black silk, some earth from the junction of three roads, some dust from Hanumān’s image and seven pulse seeds. (Some Jaina prefer the parcel to be done up in green or red or yellow silk rather than black, which they regard as unlucky.) If the husband had no sister living, a priest would be called in to tie on the parcel, and in return would expect enough food to last him for a day. Whilst tying on the parcel, he would probably bless the woman in words that might be translated: ‘Auspicious time, auspicious junction of the planets, happiness, welfare, freedom from disease, good: let all these be yours without hindrance.’ No man older than the husband is allowed to be present at this ceremony, and it is considered better for the husband not to be in the house at the time of any of these functions. The father and mother of the girl feast all their relatives at this time; and from now on the expectant mother is not allowed to do any drudgery or hard work about the house.
Sīmanta or Khoḷo bharavo.A very important ceremony takes place on some auspicious day in the seventh month. The bride’s mother sends special clothes for the occasion, and the bridegroom’s relatives also give presents, including three pounds of rice. The expectant mother fetches seven water-pots, and then goes and worships the gotrīja. Then the auspicious direction for that particular day being settled, she is taken to a room facing that quarter and there bathed, whilst she sings and is fed on sweetmeats. A little boy is also brought into the room and seated beside her whilst she bathes, and is afterwards presented with a rupee by the bride’s parents. The girl’s own mother, or her representative, comes into the room whilst she bathes, and parts the young wife’s hair; she is then dressed in the special clothes sent by her parents, her hands and feet being coloured red. A rich piece of cloth is spread outside the bathing-room, and on this the girl steps very slowly and majestically, bearing a cocoa-nut in her hands. For every step her father will have to give a present to the ubiquitous husband’s sister, but the gifts progressively decrease in value, for whereas the first step will cost her father a rupee, the next will be valued at only eight annas, the third at four, and so on. When the edge of the carpet is reached, the husband’s relatives offer the wife one rupee and throw over her balls of ashes and rice.
She then sits on a stool near the family goddess, and some milk is poured out on to a plate, which she drinks; the two fathers give her two rupees, and she also asks her mother-in-law for some money. Her husband’s youngest brother then makes the auspicious red mark on her forehead and slaps her seven times on her right cheek, for which kind office the girl’s parents pay him handsomely in rupees! The husband’s sister plays yet another part, for she now ties a silver and gold thread on the young wife’s right hand (which she will take off, however, the next day). A lucky woman then presents rice, lotus seed and a pomegranate to the girl, who gets up and bows to her mother-in-law and other elders as a sign that the ceremony is complete.
The next day the young wife receives sweetmeats from her father’s house and distributes them amongst her husband’s relatives, and on the third day she goes to her own old home and stays there till the child is born. She does not usually return to her husband’s house till the child is three months old, and then the maternal grandfather makes a handsome present of jewellery.
Death ceremonies.When a Jaina seems to be dying, his relatives summon a monk or nun to preach to the patient. As the ascetic is not allowed to sit, he cannot preach for very long at a time, so a devout layman or laywoman may be called in to supplement his work. In a case the writer knew, where a Jaina lady was dying of consumption, this religious instruction was given for three hours a day for twenty-two days.
As death approaches, the patient is urged to take the vow[3] of giving up all attachment to worldly things and of abstaining from all food. Enormous sums are given in charity by the dying man or his relatives to ensure his happiness in the next world. (Recently in the writer’s town, for instance, one gentleman gave Rs. 70,000 on his death-bed, and the sons of another, who was killed in a railway accident, immediately gave Rs. 15,000 in their father’s name.) Then the name of Mahāvīra is repeatedly whispered in the dying man’s ear, till all is over.
As soon as death has taken place, the body is moved from the bed and placed on the floor, which has been previously covered with a preparation of cow-dung to make it hallowed ground. The corpse is so arranged that the face of the dead is turned towards the north, and a lamp filled with ghī is lighted beside him. In memory of the deceased even animals are made happy, for sweets are given to the pariah dogs of the village and grass to the cows; nor are the poor forgotten, for grain is distributed amongst them.
Funeral ceremonies.Directly a Jaina dies, all his relatives weep as loudly as possible, and so advertise the fact that death has taken place. If it be a woman who has died, she is dressed in her best, probably in a sārī with a gold border, a silk bodice, and a petticoat of silk. Formerly these things used to be burnt with her, but nowadays they are removed before the actual burning takes place, so the corpse is swathed with green cloth from knees to waist underneath the silken garments. If the corpse be that of an ordinary widow, she is dressed not in silk but in black, but if the woman had been what is known as a veśa widow (i.e. one under thirty whose husband had died whilst she was still a little child), her corpse is not dressed in black.
When a man dies and leaves a widow, her ivory bangles are broken, one of them being tied to the bier and the other taken to the river by some women. Even if the wife he leaves behind be a virgin, she must take off her jewels and wash off the red auspicious mark from her forehead, and never use either again. She is not, however, always compelled to wear black garments, abstain from sweetmeats, or sleep on the floor, until she attains womanhood.
The corpse in the case of a man is dressed only in a loin-cloth, a costly cloth being wrapped over all. Four cocoa-nuts, a ball of flour and four small flags are placed on the bier, and two annas are put in the dead man’s mouth, which will later on be given to the sweepers as rent for the ground on which the corpse is burnt.
The dead body is now lifted on to the bier and carried by near relatives to the burning-ground, where a pyre has been arranged, which is lit by the son of the dead man. Women can follow the bier no further than the threshold of their house.
The fire to light the funeral pyre is taken from the house, and special attention is paid by the relatives and friends to the manner in which the fire is carried from the dead man’s home to the burning-ground. If it is carried in a cup, it is an intimation that the feasting and funeral expenses generally will be moderate, but if the fire is carried on a plate, it is a sign that a great feast will be given.
Curiously enough, as the Jaina carry the corpse to the burning-ground, they call aloud ‘Rāma Rāma’,[4] just like ordinary Hindus, but the writer has been assured that they are not then thinking of the god Rāma of the Rāmayāṇa, but simply use the word as synonymous for Prabhu or Lord, and in their own minds are thinking each of his own particular god.
When the body is burnt to ashes, most of the relatives return, but one of the party goes to a potter and gets a water-pot, and the next-of-kin fills it four times at the river and pours it over the ashes four times, and after the fourth time he leaves the pot lying there.
On the second day after the death the near relatives all go to the Apāsaro and listen to sermons.
- ↑ A favourite Indian dainty resembling milk pudding.
- ↑ The lock of hair that most Hindus leave uncut.
- ↑ See Santhāro, p. 163.
- ↑ They do not, however, use these words as an ordinary salutation. Jaina, when they meet, greet each other with the words Juhāra or Jayajinendra; Brāhmans usually say Jayajaya; other Hindus Rāma Rāma; Mohammedans Salām; while, in Gujarāt at least, the Christian greeting is Kuśaḷatā.