Though the Jainas do not
worship any transcendental God and are supposed to be atheistic, they have
constructed magnificent temples and have evolved a complex set of rituals.
Purifying the soul through meditation and asceticism, trying to put an end to
all misery and attaining the highest liberation or nirvana is the aim of all
human existence. This goal has been attained by the tirthankaras. To meditate on
this Being and his qualities in order to advance on the path of purification of
the soul and attainment of nirvana, Jainas visit temples where the images of
such tirthankaras are installed. Jainas do not worship Gods to seek their grace
for material prosperity. Their temples are administered by foundations
consisting of members known for their patronizing religious activity. Some Jaina
temples belong to the Swetambara sect and others to the Digambaras. Some are
patronized by a certain Jaina caste or regional group but all temples are open
for worship to all members of the community. Large Jaina foundations have
established and run Dharmashalas, rest houses, schools, libraries,
colleges, research institutions, publishing houses, students, hostels,
veterinary hospitals, etc. Many temples own precious jewellery, silver chariots
and other expensive objects used for worship and rituals.
At the entrance the visitors have to remove their
shoes. Often temples have their own source of water needed for daily bath of the
image as well as for the bath of participants. The cult image is installed in
the inner chamber of the temple. This chamber is secluded from the outer hall by
a surrounding wall and a door which can. be rocked. In the outer hall, in front
of the inner chamber, normally another small shrine is set up in which a small
ritual image is placed. In front of this installation there are tables over
which offerings like rice-grains, fruits, etc., are placed. The structure of the
inner chamber is separated from the surrounding walls by empty space which is
used as a circumbulatory path. Some large temples even have two worship halls
and shrines, one for daily worship by men and another for women. In many
Swetambara temples, musical instruments are kept for ritual use. One
corner is reserved for preparation of sandalwood paste used in daily ritual. All
Jainas put a sandal paste mark on their forehead on their visit to the temple.
Apart from the main cult image, each Jaina
temple has several smaller shrines of other Jinas in the surrounding chambers.
On the pillars, walls, ceilings, etc., are often paintings of gods, goddesses
and places of pilgrimage. In a corner there is usually a small shrine of
Kshetrapala, a guardian deity who is also very popular in village cults.
Early in the morning the priest begins to clean and prepare the images
for their daily bath. The lay worshippers come to the temple after taking a bath
and wearing fresh clothes. Most of the regular visitors do not eat anything
before coming to the temple. Some orthodox worshippers, when they are not able
to visit the temple due to illness or some other reason, observe a full or a
partial fast as repentance.
After removing the offerings of the previous day and after dusting the images,
the priest washes them and puts fresh flowers and applies sandalwood paste. In the
outer hall the lay-worshippers start the ritual by giving a bath to the image
which is a kind of reminiscence of the post-birth illustration of Mahavira by Indra. While giving the bath the worshippers also sing devotional songs, apply
sandalwood paste dots, offer flowers and rice-grains. The water and other
liquids by which the image is bathed are collected in a large vessel which is
placed in a corner. All visitors dip their fingers in this water and apply it to
their forehead and eyes. Those worshippers, who do not take part in the bathing
ritual, worship the image with folded palm, greet by kneeling in front of the
image and offer rice-grains, cloves, almonds, flowers or fruits. Often, the
visitors make from rice-grains the diagrams of swastika, nandyavarta, the moon
and the dot of the sacred syllables Om and Hrim. In some Swetambara temples,
some worshippers hold a lamp in front of the image or worship the reflection of
the image in the mirror.
In the afternoon the temple is closed but occasionally there are special sermons
by a monk or a nun. In the evening the temple opens again. In Digambara temples,
the evening ritual consists of a simple prayer sung in front of lamps. In
Swetambara temples, the image is decked with heaps of flowers or jewels or thin
silver sheets. At close, the Drati ceremony takes place in which many lamps are
lit and moved in front of the image accompanied by devotional songs.
Idol Installation in a Jain Temple
Even today several new Jaina temples are being constructed. As seen earlier, the cult images are made for installation in new temples. An image, unless it undergoes the ceremony of installation through a series of rituals, is not qualified for worship in a Jaina temple. The ceremony lasts for three to five days of general worship of the five great Beings of Jainism, and rituals connected with auspicious beginning and fertility rite, and five days of ritual and theatrical depiction of five great events of the life of Tirthankara. This ceremony depicting the five events of conception, birth, renunciation, enlightenment and nirvana is called Pancha Kalyanak ( or Pancha Kalyana) Pratistha Mahotsava, the great celebration of installation through the five auspicious events. Usually the main image to be installed (mulanayaka or main deity) is taken out in a procession, if it is too large then a small bronze image (vidhinayaka) is used for that purpose.
At first Pooja is offered to the five great beings, namely Arhat, Siddha, Acharya, Upadhyaya and Sadhu and their qualities. These beings and their qualities are depicted in the form of a large diagram painted on the floor. On the first day the Tirthankara image is taken out in procession; on the second day the people who were going to play the roles of the father of the Jina and the Indras are appointed and worshipped. Afterwards, a patch on the ground is selected and cleaned. On this patch, boundaries are marked by lines drawn with red and white powder and inside a square border a swastika is drawn and worshipped. Later, the ritual participants dressed as Indras and Indranis come one after the other and dig out clay from the worshipped patch. This clay is filled in eight earthen pots which are placed in eight sections of a lotus-shaped diagram painted on the floor. Near each pot a silver replica of one of the eight auspicious marks is placed. In these pots five different kinds of grains are sown. The ritual is called Mrtikanayana (bringing of the clay), and Ankuraropana (sowing of the seeds). This ancient fertility ritual is interpreted by the pandit, the conductor of the ritual, as representing the increase in wealth and fertility on earth before the birth of the tirthankara.
After these preparatory rituals begin the actual ceremony of the five events. For the event of conception, a glass casket is installed on the stage. Inside the casket a yantra is placed by the man who acts as the father of the tirthankara. The woman acting as the mother touches the yantra with her fingers. Then the father gives a bath to the image and places it inside the glass casket and closes it . The glass casket now represents the womb of the mother of the tirthankara. The image inside represents the embryo and the whole event is representative of the tirthankara coming into the womb of his mother. The image of the tirthankara are wrapped in a white cloth to indicate that it was in the embryo stage.
On the second day the mother of tirthankara plays by a lady dressed as a queen, shown lying on a couch attended by girls dressed as heavenly maidens. She is shown, one after the other, the 16 dream images painted on a cardboard. These paintings indicated the 16 auspicious dreams of the tirthankara mother.
On the third day the event of the birth of the Tirthankara takes place. The ritual image is taken out of the glass casket and handed over to the couple who acts as Indra and lndrani. They place it on a decorated elephant and bring it in a procession to an artificial tower which represents the mythical mount Sumeru. The image is placed on top of the tower, post-birth bath is given to it by the people representing Indra and other Gods. Later, the image is brought back and placed inside a cradle surrounded by various toys.
On the fourth day the image is given princely clothes and
is coronated on a royal chair in front of a painted theatrical curtain depicting
the palace. After the ceremony of coronation, the image is placed inside a
palanquin and is carried in procession outside the town Here it was placed
under a large Asoka tree or a platform. Around the platform an enclosure of
white cloth is put up. Inside the enclosure the princely clothes are removed
and some cloves are fixed on the head with sandalwood paste. Later, these
cloves are scraped by the pandit indicating that tirthankara had given up clothes
and had plucked out his hair to renounce the world. After that the pandit
inscribes the letters of the alphabet on various parts of the image, showing
that tirthankara had entered the path of knowledge. All this is done in the
seclusion of the enclosure. Finally the image is placed inside a bucket and
covered with clothes and carried away secretly by a ritual assistant. The last
act indicates that tirthankara had disappeared in the forest and had undertaken the
path of wandering alone as a monk. The image is brought back to the temple
where it was installed
on a high stool under a tree. On one side of the image a small peacock-feather
broom and, on the other, a water pot are placed. This represents the event of
renunciation and monk hood of the tirthankara. Then the image, representing monk hood,
is carried on the head by a devotee to the house of a layman who had
invited the monk for a meal. The man stops in front of the house where stood a
couple to invite the monk for a meal. They have pots filled with water and covered
with coconuts. The image is worshipped by the host couple by uttering the words
of invitation and by circumambulating the image three times. Then the image is
brought inside the compound and is placed on a high seat. In front of the image
are kept many silver plates filled with food. The worshippers fill up spoons of
food and keep it in front of the image in the posture of feeding and empty the spoons in a plate in front of it. The image
is then brought back to the temple.
At night, again in seclusion, the pandit places the image inside an enclosure
and in front of it lit a lamp and uttered many mantras. This secret ritual is
meant to impart knowledge to ptepare for the event of enlightenment. On the
morning of the next day, a jaina guru performed the most crucial ceremony of
opening of the eyes. This indicated the opening of the eyes and enlightenment of
Mahavira. The image was placed on top of tapering towered structure,
samavasarana, the divine preaching hall created by the gods for the preaching of
the tirthankara immediately after his enlightenment. This also represented the
first sermon to theuniverse.
On the last day, the event of nirvana is commemorated. In the early morning the pandit
cleans a patch of ground, draws a swastika on it and places a marble tile over
it. On the tile, he constructs a miniature pyre from sandalwood pieces which he
lites with a burning piece of camphor , This indicated that Tirthankara had attained
the final liberation, nirvana, and that his material body was cremated. Now the
image is placed inside a glass casket placed over a miniature mountain
representing siddhashila under three umbrellas. The most important part of the
ritual of idol installation as practiced today is the event of enlightenment
represented by the act of touching the pin to the eyes to indicate the opening
of the eyes.
The tirthankara image which has undergone the ritual of installation thus becomes qualified for worship in the temple. The ritual of opening of the eyes is also performed over the large main image in the temple.