Religions of India in Practice

The Jain community is divided into two broad traditions, the Digambaras (“sky-clad”) and Śvetāmbaras (“white-robed”), named after the most distinguishing features of their respective mendicant practice. The Śvetāmbaras are further divided into three traditions, the Mūrtipūjakas, who worship images of the Jinas in temples, and the Sthānakavāsīs and Terāpanthīs, who do not worship such images. The Jinas (“conquerors”), also known as Arhats (“worthy ones”) and Tīrthaṅkaras (“congregation founders”), are the twenty-four enlightened beings of this time period who taught the Jain tradition and established the fourfold congregation of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. The last of these was Vardhamāna Mahāvīra, a slightly elder contemporary of the Buddha. Scholars also accept the historicity of the twenty-third Jina, Pārśva, but the other twenty-two recede into an area of Jain universal history that has not been confirmed by scholarship.

The Rite of Veneration of the Jina Images (Caitya Vandana) is performed daily in the temple by many Śvetāmbara Mūrtipūjaka Jain laity and mendicants, and the texts involved are known by heart by many thousands of Jains. The rite, translated here from a recent ritual manual, has its roots in the ancient six obligatory rites (āvaśyaka) of all Jain mendicants. The second of these rites is the Hymn to the Twenty-four Jinas (caturvirṃśati stava), which is incorporated into the rite as step 3b. This hymn is also found at the earliest level of the Digambara tradition, and is still recited by Digambara mendicants today. The Rite of Veneration also incorporates elements of the fourth obligatory rite, Absolution of Faults (pratikramaṇa), which is performed in an abbreviated form at the outset of the rite (step 2), and the sixth obligatory rite, Abandonment of the Body (kāyotsarga), which is performed at both the beginning and the end of the rite (steps 3a and 13). The Rite of Veneration is also closely modeled on the third obligatory rite, Veneration of the Guru.

The Rite of Veneration has grown in elaboration over the centuries, as is seen in the linguistic layerings of material in the Prakrit, Sanskrit, and vernacular languages. The oldest layers are in the Jain ritual language of Prakrit. To these were added several Sanskrit verses, and the latest layers incorporate several hymns in the vernacular, in this case Gujarati. At several places the worshiper can sing a vernacular hymn of his or her own choosing: one that is appropriate to the identity of the Jina image in the temple, or to the day if it is a special holy day, or else a personal favorite. The linguistic layerings are lost when all three languages are translated into English. To best approximate the layerings, the rite should be translated into Greek or Hebrew, Latin, and English—and the English of eighteenth-century church hymnody, at that! I have indicated the linguistic shifts by P (Prakrit), S (Sanskrit), or G (Gujarati) after the relevant passages; the instructions themselves are in Hindi. The growth of the rite through incorporating parts of the different obligatory rites is also seen in the repetition of various parts of the rite. Repetition, of course, is an integral part of most ritual idioms.

The concept of veneration is found at the earliest levels of the Jain tradition, and the Jain practice of veneration may well be an important, but hitherto unstudied and unacknowledged, source for the later concept of bhakti (devotion) in all the Indian religious traditions. Veneration involves the praise and adoration of a superior being, whether a departed, enlightened, and liberated Jina or a living, unliberated mendicant. In the Jain case it also plays an integral part in the process of liberation, which is attained by the removal of all karmic attachments and stains. By venerating the superior qualities of a being who is more advanced along the path to liberation, one absorbs some of those qualities into one’s being, and thereby both eradicates previously accrued karma and prevents the accrual of more karma. These are integral elements in the Jain process of liberation.

The description and texts here are taken from one contemporary manual from among the dozens of essentially identical ones available to all Jains: Muni Ratnasenvijay, Caityavandan Sūtra Vivecanā, (Fālnā, Rajasthan: Śārdā Prakāśan, 1983), part 2, pp. 30-39. This description has also been informed by fieldwork observation of the rite.

1. The worshiper enters the temple wearing pure clothes. Using the end of the upper-body cloth, s/he carefully sweeps the floor immediately in front of her/himself three times in order to remove any insects or other living creatures.

b. Doing the five-limbed prostration [kneeling with hands folded before the chest, then touching the floor with two hands, two knees, and forehead], s/he says:

a. Instruct me, O Lord, according to my desire. Should I do the absolution of faults (pratikramaṇa) committed in the course of walking? It is desired, I desire to do the absolution of faults. For injury in the course of walking, in going and coming, in treading on living things, in treading on seeds, in treading on green plants, in treading on dew, insects, mold, mud, clay, spiders, and cobwebs, whatever living beings have been injured by me—one-sensed, two-sensed, three-sensed, four-sensed, five-sensed, have been hurt, knocked down, squashed, struck, collided with, oppressed, fatigued, frightened, displaced from one spot to another, deprived of life—for all those, may the wrong action be of no karmic consequence. [P]

b. For those, as an additional effort, as penance, as purification, in order to be without the thorns of sinful karmas, for the destruction of sinful karmas, I stand in the body-renouncing posture (kāyotsarga). [P]

Except for inhaling, exhaling, coughing, sneezing, yawning, hiccuping, passing wind, dizziness, fainting, very slight movements of the limbs, very slight movements of mucus, very slight movements of the eyes, and other such faults, may my body-renouncing posture be unbroken and unhindered. As long as I have not completed the homage to the blessed Arhats, I shall abandon my body in this place, in silence, and in meditation. [P]

3.a. S/he stands in the body-renouncing posture [hands held downward at the side of the body, palms facing inward and slightly removed from the legs, feet slightly apart, and eyes focused on the tip of the nose], also known as the Jina posture, and silently recites once the Hymn to the Twenty-four Jinas (3b) or else four times the Namaskāra Mantra:

Praise to the Arhats

Praise to the Perfected Ones

Praise to the mendicant leaders

Praise to the mendicant preceptors

Praise to all mendicants in the world

This fivefold praise

destroys all sinful karmas

and of all holies

is the foremost holy. [P]

I will glorify the illuminators of the world, the creators of the ford of dharma,

the Jinas, the Arhats, the twenty-four Omniscient Ones. (1)

I venerate Ṛṣabha and Ajita, Saṃbhava and Abhinandana and Sumati,

I venerate Padmaprabha, Supārśva Jina, and Candraprabha. (2)

Suvidhi and Puṣpadanta, Śītala, Śreyāṃsa, and Vāsupūjya,

I venerate Vimala and Ananta, the Jina Dharma and Sānti. (3)

I venerate Kunthu, Ara, and Malli, Minisuvrata, and the Jina Nami,

I venerate Ariṣṭanemi, and Pārśva and Vardhamāna. (4)

Thus I have praised those who are freed from the dirt of karma,
and who have destroyed illness and death.

May the twenty-four excellent Jinas, the Tīrthaṅkaras, be gracious to me. (5)

Thus glorified, venerated, and honored, supreme in the world, Perfected Ones,

May they grant the benefits of health (that is, liberation) and knowledge, and the best, highest enlightenment. (6)

Purer than the moon, much more radiant than the sun,

Deeper than the ocean—may those Perfected Ones give me perfection. (7) [P]

5.Seated in the yoga posture [right leg tucked under the right buttock, left knee raised, and hands folded before the mouth] s/he says:

Like a vine of all that is good, or a blue-lotus cloud,

the sun that drives away darkness, or the wish-granting tree;

a raft on the ocean of rebirth, the cause of all success;

may he be forever beneficent to us, Śāntinatha (or Pārśvanātha). [S]

b. S/he sings or recites a hymn in the vernacular. The choice of this hymn is up to the worshiper, and may be one that is appropriate to the day if it is a special holiday, or one that is addressed to the main image of the temple. For example:

Hail wish-fulfilling Pārśvanātha! Hail Lord of the three worlds!

Victor over the eight karma enemies, attainer of the fifth realm [liberation].

The root of joy is found in the name of the Lord, obtain happiness and success.

Fear of rebirth is removed by the name of the Lord, burn off all sins.

Recite the couplet “Oṃ Hrīṃ,” repeat the name of Pārśva.

Poison is transformed into nectar, attain the immovable state. [G]

d. S/he recites the Indra Hymn, so called because it is said to have been recited by Indra, the king of the celestial beings, to Mahāvīra at the time of his conception:

Praise to the Arhats, the Lords, who cause the beginnings, the Tīrthaṅkaras, who by themselves have attained enlightenment, the best of men, lions among men, excellent lotuses among men, excellent perfumed elephants among men, the best in the world, lords of the world, benefactors of the world, lights of the world, illuminators of the world, givers of freedom from fear, givers of insight, givers of the path, givers of refuge, givers of enlightenment, givers of dharma, expounders of dharma, leaders of dharma, guides of dharma, the best world emperors of dharma, possessors of the irrefutable best knowledge and faith, freed from bondage, the victors, the conquerors, who have crossed over, who bring others across, wise, enlightened, liberated, who liberate others, omniscient, all-seeing, who have attained the place called Abode of Perfection which is beneficent, firm, inviolable, eternal, imperishable, undisturbed, and from which there is no return; praise to the Jinas who have conquered fear. In this threefold manner I praise all the Perfected Ones, those who have been, those who will be in a future time, and those who are in the present. [P]

a. As many mendicants there are in Bhārata, Airāvata, and Mahāvideha [the continents where liberation is possible] who maintain the three disciplines of mind, speech, and body—to them all I bow down. [P]

b. Praise to the Arhats, the Perfected Ones, the mendicant leaders, the mendicant preceptors, and all mendicants. [S]

9.S/he sings another hymn in the vernacular. If one does not come to mind, s/he should sing the “Obstacle Remover Hymn”:

I praise Pārśva the Obstacle Remover, Pārśva who is freed from clinging karma,

the destroyer of the venom of the poisonous serpent, who is an abode of holiness and goodness. (1)

The man who always holds in his throat this serpent-slayer spell is freed from evil planets, disease, pestilence, troubles, and senility. (2)

Should this spell remain out of reach, just bowing to you gives great rewards.

Souls in men and even animals are saved from sorrow and bad rebirth. (3)

Attaining right faith in you, greater than a wish-granting gem or a wish-granting tree,

souls easily attain that state free from old age and death. (4)

Singing this hymn, O Greatly Glorious! full of devotion in my heart,

O God! grant me wisdom in birth after birth, O Pārśva Jinacandra! (5) [P]

10. Seated in the pearl oyster posture [identical to the yoga posture, except the hands are folded in front of the forehead and nose instead of the chest], s/he recites the Hymn to the Dispassionate One:

Victory to the Dispassionate One, Guru of the world;

through your splendor may these be mine, O Lord:

detachment from the world, following of the path, attainment of desired results, (1) [P]

renunciation of what is censured in the world,

worship of the gurus and parents, and practice of aid to others,

attachment to a good guru, and service of his words, in full in this world. (2) [P]

Even though I have renounced and stopped worldly aims,

O Dispassionate One, according to your teachings,

nonetheless I want to serve your feet in birth after birth. (3) [P]

May suffering be destroyed, may karma be destroyed,

may death in absorption and the reward of enlightenment

be granted to me, O Lord, by my bowing to you. (4) [P]

The holiness of all holies, the cause of all beneficence,

the chief of all dharmas: the Jain teaching is victorious. (5) [S]

a. I do the body-renouncing posture to the images of the Arhats. For the sake of praising, for the sake of worshiping, for the sake of gifting, for the sake of honoring, for the sake of the reward of enlightenment, for the sake of liberation, I stand in the body-renouncing posture with faith, with intelligence, with steadfastness, with mindfulness, and with increasing absorption. [P]

b. Except for inhaling, exhaling, coughing, sneezing, yawning, hiccuping, passing wind, dizziness, fainting, very slight movements of the limbs, very slight movements of mucus, very slight movements of the eyes, and other such faults, may my body-renouncing posture be unbroken and unhindered. As long as I have not completed the homage to the blessed Arhats, I shall abandon my body in this place, in silence, and in meditation. [P]

13. a. S/he then remains in the body-renouncing posture while silently reciting once the Namaskāra mantra: