Jaina Monuments Of Orissa

Author(s): R P Mohapatra
Publisher: D K Publications

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Jaina Monuments of Orissa
This practice has obtained for a long time past and is known in the locality as Udaparva. Some twenty-five thousand low class people muster there on the occasion, the Bathuries of course forming the majority. Dressed as Bhakta, they celebrate the ceremony of Chandrasena puja, suffer themselves to be pierced without a murmur with a hook and merrily and lustily swing on the Chadak. A very great enthusiasm prevails on the occasion. Some times even so large a number as two hundred Bhaktas vie with one another to have their bodies pierced with hooks impelled by a strong and irresistible desire to have their vows to the effect literally fulfilled, a piece of cloth is then tied round their bodies over the pierced parts and lustily do they enjoy swings on the chaḍaka post planted for the purpose. Even the public in general regard this festival held once annually as a highly holy and dignified one. Even the Brahmanas are second to no other castes in their regard and enthusiasms for this festival.
It is not known exactly in which way Udaparva is connected with this image. Different versions of this parva are widely prevalent in other parts of the state. It can be reasonably concluded that the local people either confused this chaumukha with their sacred deity of Chandrasena or this practice of serious torture to the body had some evident connection with the vigorous penance practised by the Tirthankaras in the past. The large number of Jaina relics of Parsvanatha, Ambika, Mahavira, and other Tirthankara figures in addition, at places like Badasai, Koisali, Pundal and Barudi strongly support this contention.
SARĀKAS
Sarākas (Sravaka), a caste of people are inhabiting parts of the districts of Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Balasore and Mayurbhanja of present Orissa. They are also extensively settled in Chotanagpur, Manbhum, Singhbhum areas of Bihar and a few adjacent areas in the West Bengal. They seem to be Hinduised remnant of the early Jaina people to whom local legends ascribe the ruinous temples, the defaced images and even the abandoned copper mines of some parts of Bihar and Bengal. The temples and images indeed are proved by their well marked and characteristic symbolism to be the handiworks of Jaina artists.
It is not at all possible to picture the ancient culture of the Sarakas. The materials available for reconstructing the past are meagre and unreliable, we shall avail ourselves of the dim light which they throw on the past glories of a lost race. There is a tradition that every Saraka family had its own tank. The sites of ancient settlements are studded with big tanks most of which have silted up. People say that the number of families in a particular settlement can still be traced by counting the number of contiguous tanks in the locality, as no Saraka family ever used a tank that did not belong exclusively to it. The tanks that exist to this day are quite big and their excavations indicate a high state of civilisation.
93. S.N. Ray, JBORS, Vol. XII, Part. III, p. 54.