Jinamanjari 1996 04 No 13

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

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connection between the two. Furthermore, as early as the writing of the Kalpasutra, the trees sacred to four of the tirthankaras are mentioned. Later texts identify trees specific to the rest. In fact, trees with thrones under them are listed among the pratiharyas of the Jinas. And, in the cosmic pavilion that the texts describe as appearing whenever a Jina is asked to preach, a low throne under a tree is located at the very centre which suggests something of the centrality and importance this imagery holds within Jainism.22
Similarly, in Buddhism the caitya was a well known architectural form used to demarcate areas of sacredness and religious importance. The earliest example of such a structure being used to Buddhist ends was commissioned by the great Mauryan king Asoka who had a fence built around the Bodhi tree at Bodh Baya. By the third century B.C.E. the stupa-caitya became the standard architectural form for free-standing Buddhist structures and with the rise and development of Buddhist iconography the tree maintained its importance in signifying the place and moment of enlightenment. In fact in the Kalingabodhi-Jataka the Buddha actually stipulates that the tree is a suitable symbol for himself and states that the honouring of specific trees is an appropriate way of showing honour to him.23
The caitya was also incorporated into Brahmanical religion over time as this and other aspects of popular religion helped give form to aspects of religious practice we recognize as being part of modern Hinduism. For instance, Coomaraswarmy and others have identified the origins of modern bhakti within the practices of early yaksa worship rather than in the Vedic ritual.24 This shift towards the acceptance of popular religion can be seen in the Brahmanical textual tradition when the descriptions of popular religious practices in the Vedas are compared to those of later texts. For example, in the Vedas we are told of the despised worshippers of the sisna (phallus) whose mere presence could pollute the
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