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Introduction
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when the images are specially decorated, the Samavasaraṇa is arranged, readings from the scriptures are given by Brahmacāris, Yatis and Sūris. In many other respects, the Jaina temple worship bears a close resemblance to Brāhmanic customs. The images go through the same process of canonical installation, daily worship, ceremonious worship, occasional processions, decorations and Arati. Almost in the same way as that of the Brahmans, the Deities are offered rice, water and Naivedya. There are bells, drums, chowries and no foreigner, unless he is told, will find any appreciable distinction between a strictly Brāhmanic temple and a Jaina one. In temple worship, the Digambaras and the Svetāmbaras differ in some important heiratic points. For instance, “The Digambaras bathe the images with abundance of water but Svetāmbaras usc very little. The Digambaras may bathe and worship their images during the night, but the Svetāmbaras do not even light lamps in their temples, much less do they bathe or worship the images lest in so doing they might thereby kill, or indirectly cause the death of any living thing, for to do so during the night they regard as a great sin. The Digambaras wash their images with Pañcāmrta but the others do not”.
Classes of Jaina Gods and Goddesses
Classification arose among the Jaina divinities as soon as their number grew enormously, parıly to systematise their pantheon and partly to lend facilities to the sacerdotal worship. The deities have been looked at from specific view-points and this has led to various classifications. Some of the gods and goddesses have been worshipped by Svetāmbaras, which have not bcen acknowledged by the Digambaras and similarly, some of the Digambara deities are nearly unknown to the Svetārnbaras. There are variants in certain names in both the sects. In an early text of Jaina Religion called the Acūra Dinakara, we find, goddesses have been divided into three classes-viz. (1) Prāsāda Devis or installed images (2) Kuladevis or Tantrik Goddesses worshipped according to mantras from preceptors. (3) Sampra
1.
Burgess. Ind. Ant. 1903, p. 459 ff.
