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Lord Mahāvira and His Times
During the time of Mahāvīra, tree-worship seems to have been well known. Trees were considered to be the residences of some divine spirits who were worshipped by people for the fulfilment of their desires for sons, daughters, honour, wealth, and so on. Sometimes they were regarded as abodes of evil spirits like Pretas, and people worshipped them out of fear so that these malignant spirits may not harm them. The tree cult became further popular when the custom of using trees as symbols of saints and worshipping them as such became fashionable. The Bodhi tree, for instance, was one such tree for the Buddhists. MISCELLANEOUS DEITIES
Besides the celestial gods worshipped by their devotees, people seem to have worshipped various animals and birds too, such as elephants, horses, bulls, cows, dogs, and crows. The Buddhist sources speak of the honour shown to the bull, sometimes in normal course and sometimes on occasions like his death. The custom of showing reverence to the bull was probably on account of his indispensability to agriculture.
Rivers and sacred streams began to be venerated, and tirthas or sacred spots on their banks came into existence and began to be thronged with worshipful pilgrims. People made pilgrimages to these holy places because facilities for travel were available.
The dread of demons must have driven people to take recourse to rites in order to keep them in good humour. Magical formulae and incantations must have been largely used to placate the invisible spirits and to control their vagaries. There are numerous allusions to persons versed in demonology (bhūyaväiya). There were dealers in antidotes as well as charmers who knew the science of spirits, and by means of various ceremonies, enchantments, and preservatives cured those possessed.3 The Bțihatkalpabhäshya refers to a shop called kuttiyāvana' 1. India as described in Early Texts of Buddhism and Jainism, pp. 195,
197-199. 2. Ji, II. 225; Jā, IV 326. 3. Ullara. Ti, I, p. 5; Ara, Ti, p. 399. 4. Brih. Bha, 3. (214; Ava. Ti, p. 413.
