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PREFACE : LI
Pilgrimage
As to when did the custom of pilgrimage to such holy places started in the Jaina tradition is very difficult to ascertain because no clear mention of Jaina pilgrimages is found in the canonical or explanatory literature earlier than that of the Cūrnis. The very first such mention is in the Nisītha-cūrní wherein it has been said that a believer who goes on a pilgrimage to the places of auspicious events of the prophets strengthens and purifies his belief. Similarly, it has been mentioned in the Vyavahăra-bhā sya and the Vyavahāra-cūrni that a monk who does not visit all the Jina shrines and does not bow to all the monks staying in all the localities in the town on the eighth and the fourteenth of each fortnight incurs the minor penitence of a month's duration"
The mention of pilgrimages is also found in Mahānisīthacūrni as well. However, its period is controversial. The description of its restitution by Haribhadra is included in its text itself. It has been mentioned in the list of canonical literature in the Nandīsūtra, hence its period should be somewhere between the fifth and the eighth centuries AD. On this evidence it can be surmised that the concept of pilgrimage must have gained much importance during this period only.
39 Niśītha Cümī, Pt. I, p. 24. 40 Nissakadamanissakade ceie savvahim thuim tinni Velamba ceiānl va
nāum rakkivikaka āvavi, att,hamī caudasī suñceiya savvāni sahuno savve vandeyavvā niyamā avasesa-tihisu jahasatti || Eesu atthamīmādīsu ceiyāim sahuno vā je annāe vasahie thiāte na
vandati māsa lahu || - Vvavahāra (ū
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