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THE WORD PŪJĀ AND ITS MEANING
In the beginning of the year 1987 there was a controversy in Bombay Jaina Community that whether a Jaina Ācārya should have the navāngi pūjā, just like that of an idol of a Jaina Tīrthankara or not. This led me to investigate about the word pūjā in the Jaina Anga literature and this article is the result of my investigation. It was written first in Gujarati and now I give just a gist of it in English in honour of Dr. Colette Caillat whom I regard as a pioneer scholar of our times.
I must first mention that now the tool for such investigation is available in the form of a dictionary called Agama Śabdakosa Vol. I published by Jaina Viśva Bhārati of Ladnun. And I have used this dictionary for collecting the word pujā and such related words used in the Jaina Anga literature. For the meanings of those words I have consulted the commentaries by Śilānka and Abhayadeva. Pūyă (Pūjā)
We are fortunate to have the meaning of the word pūjā in the text itself and we see that the same meaning is followed generally by the commentators also.
In Sūtrakrtānga II ch. I we find the following text while discussing the theory of the Lokāyatas : Tumam pūyayāmi, tam jahā-asaņeņa vā pāņeņa vā khāimeņa vā sāimeņa vā vattheņa vā padiggaheņa vā kambaleņa vā pāyapuñchaņeņa vā'.
Dr. Jacobi has translated this text thus : << We shall present you with food, drink, spices and sweetmeats, with a robe, a bowl, or a broom >>2.
From this it is quite clear that pujā means to present something to an honourable person.
The meaning of the word pāyā in Sū. (I. 14. 11) given by śīlānka is :
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