Book Title: Jaina Monuments Of Orissa
Author(s): R P Mohapatra
Publisher: D K Publications

Previous | Next

Page 35
________________ Background and Tradition 13 worship, ceremonious worship, occasional processions, decorations and arar. Almost in the same way as that of the Brāhmaṇas the deities are offered rice, water and naivedya. There are bells, drums, chauries and no foreigner unless he is told, will find any appreciable distinction between a strictly Brahmanic temple and a Jaina one. In temple worship, the Digambaras and the Svetambaras differ in some important heiratic points. For instance the Digambaras bathe the images with abundance of water, but Svetämbaras use very little. The Digambaras may bathe and worship their images during the night but the Svetambaras 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 palichamrita but the others do not. The Jainas worship Pañchaparames!hins the five fold divinity, namely (1) Arhats i.e. the twenty-four Tirthankaras, (2) Sidha, the liberated soul, (3) Acharya, the preceptor (usually through his symbolic representation called sthapana, (4) Upadhyaya, the teacher, and (5) Sadhu, a monk who has renour.ced worldly ties. Specific qualities are attributed to them. There are different mantras or syllables to remember and revere them. The first syllables of the names of these parameşthinis constitute the sacred syllable OM, which has great religious significance. The real worship in the religious sense is confined to the first two especially the first under the twenty-four Tirthankaras whose biographies are elaborate in many respects. There are hymns of praise in their honour, which are not intended to ask for any thing from them, but the devotee who recites them wants their great qualitics to develop himself. There are rituals, pūjās of various kinds, etc., to express devotion to the Tirthankaras. All these aim at purifying oneself by pious activities at eliminating one's Karma, so that the Atman becomes Paramatman.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 ... 384