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WORSHIP, RITUAL, FASTS AND FESTIVALS
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and ailments disappear, no one in the world be afflicted with famine or scarcity, with theft, loot, plunder and devastation, nor with epidemics, even for a moment: Peace be to all !!!” Other Rituals Apart from the daily deva-pājā, which is a comparatively simple affair, and certain special pūjās performed on special occasions or festivals, which are complex and time-consuming, sometimes lasting several days, no doubt, in instalments, there are several other ritualistic ceremonies. The more important of them are those performed for consecrating a temple, a shrine, a Jina image or images. The image consecration ceremony is known as the Jina-bimbapratișthā or Pañca-kalyānaka-mahotsava. The presiding priest is usually a learned pundit, well-versed in iconography, hymology and consecrational lore, and is a pious man. He examines and approves the right types of images and begins the ceremony which lasts eight or ten days. The five auspicious events (kalyāņakas) of a Tirtharkara's, life, namely, conception, birth, renunciation, attainment of Omniscience and liberation (nirvāņa) are enacted, often dramatically. Scriptures are read and recited, sacred mantras are chanted, some of them one and a quarter lac of times, incenses are burnt, various worships are performed, processions are taken out, and the consecrated images are duly installed. It is only then that they become objects of worship. This is by far the grandest Jaina religious ceremony and is often accompanied by profuse show and splendour.
The initiation of a layman or laywoman into the kşullaka or ailaka stage, more especially into that of a nirgrantha ascetic, is also celebrated with much ceremony. In the subsects, which have no temples and images, this initiation ceremony is attended with the greatest eclat. The beginning and ending of the four
