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Jaina Ethics ond Miscellaneous Customs and Manners
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(49) Yogasammaha : He gets the power due to omniscience
and austerities. (50) Arhantya : He attains the status of an Arhat. (51) Vihāra : The Arhat or Tirthankara preached the truth
to all people. (52) Yogatyāga : Then he draws the soul into itself. (53) Agranirvrti : Then he achieves final deliverance.
These fifty-three ceremonies describe the progress of a layman to Moksha or final liberation. But from the nature of the ceremonies it is clear that no individual in this age can possibly pass through all of them. The number of ceremonies for an ordinary householder will therefore have to be limited for practical purposes and we find that the Digambaras have tried to curtail them. But it is surprising that they have not arrived at a fixed number of ceremonies. The late Brahmachārī Sitalaprasādaji has prescribed182 for the householders the first twenty-six of the above mentioned fifty-three ceremonies and in addition that of Antyakarma, that is, death ceremony. Pandita Lālārāma Šāstrī in his book183 Shodaśa Samskāra (i. e. sixteen Sacraments) really prescribes in all eighteen ceremonies, namely, the first seventeen of the fiftythree ceremonies referred to above and the death ceremony.
The Svetāmbaras do not accept the ceremonies given by the Digambars. On the contrary they have evolved their own ceremonies. According to them layman has to pass through sixteen ceremonies prescribed in their sacred book Achāradinakara.184 The ceremonies, in brief, are as follows : 2 (1) Garbhādhāna : It is performed in the fifth month after.
conception. The Brāhmaṇa priest, who is specially
invited, chants sacred hymns and blesses the couple. • This is done with a view to ensure the protection of
the mother and the child in the embryo from various
kinds of fears. (2) Puinsavana : It is done in the eighth month after concep
tion with a desire to get a male issue. On any auspicious day very early in the morning the pregnant woman is made to sit under an open sky. The preceptor sprinkles holy water on her, chants 'mantras' or hymns
