Notes on Modern Jainism

Author(s): Mrs Sinclair Stevenson
Publisher: Oxford

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MODERN JAINISM.
The Dilvāra temples on Mount A'bu, though they lack the surpassing sanctity of S'atrunjaya, and their site has not the wild grandeur of Girnar, are in themselves perhaps the most beautiful of all.
A'bu.
A walk of about a mile through a pleasant valley connects the rising ground on which they stand with the little hill station of A'bu.
The larger shrines belong to the S'vetambara sect, and the brothers Vastupala and Tejapala-they died in the years A. D. 1242 and 1252 respectively-who had spent, it is said, eighteen crores of rupees in erecting the temples on the S'atrunjaya hills, spent twenty-four crores more on erecting temples here and on Girnar.
Digambara Morning Worship.
Across the way from these shrines is a little temple of the Digambara sect, which has lately been restored through the zeal of the Bombay Provincial Association of Digambara Jaina. Through the courtesy of their representative in A'bu, we were permitted to watch their morning and evening worship. Two steep flights of steps lead to the temple court, in the centre of which is a shrine of A'dinätha, and round the court are windowless cells, built for the occupation of visiting monks, nuns and pilgrims. There is an additional room with five or six separate hearths which serves as a kitchen.
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We arrived about 8 A. M., and found the Jaina Pujari taking an early cup of tea before beginning his work. After removing our shoes, we were allowed to stand on the floor before the door of the temple during the worship, which lasted about an hour and a half, and which consisted in