________________
336
Jainism in a Global Perspective
meaningless. I would rather be inclined to think that this date was astrologically considered auspicious for gifts: in Hindu as well as in Jaina texts, we often meet the etymological connection between the name of the festival and the fact that gifts made on this occasion would be undecaying. Hence its connection with the episode narrating the gift made by Śreyansakumara to Rṣabhadeva was not every problematic. The situation we face here is not exceptional: we find a similar pattern in the case of two other festivals, namely Divālī and Holi, which are known under the same name among Jainas and among Hindus, are celebrated by both, but in different ways and for a different reason. The question of priority could not be answered in these cases either, although Divālī, for instance, was the subject of a thorough investigation by the Indian scholar P.K. Gode.
Since the Jaina literary tradition is exceptionally rich in books defining the moral conduct of the laity, we could expect to find some information regarding the procedure of Varṣitapaor the way the celebration of the Akṣayatrṛtīya should be carried out. Unfortunately, the so-called Śrāvakācāra- treatises of the classical period hardly yield any material. Until now the only one where I was able to glcan somethings is the Sräddhavidhiprakaraṇa written by the monk Ratnaśekharasūri in 1450. The word "Akṣayatṛtiya" appears in a list included in the third section, devoted to the topic of parvas. We are told that on parva-days, one should try to restrict one's food and clothes, observe fasting and make all possible efforts to offer gifts and to practice religious charity. Thus, we only find general observations which hold true for all types of parvas, put no specific detail regarding our Parva.
For that, we then have to turn to modern or contemporary literature. Such texts belong to the Vratakatha literature, and are meant for the use of Jaina laydeovtees, during the time they observe a specific vow and on the day the completion of the vow is celebrated. As a matter of fact, reading of kathas connected with the vow by the performers themselves, or more often listening to such kathās narrated by the monks are normally a part of the celebrations. These texts are of three types: (i) in our case, at least two vyakhyänas written in Sanskrit by two prolific Jaina monks of the 17th and the 19th centuries (ii) numerous anonymous Akṣayatṛtīyākathas, especially in old Gujarati, which are still in the form of manuscripts housed in the Jaina Bhandaras; and (iii) the modern "ephemeral literature
6
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org