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60: śramana, Vol 64, No. 1, Jan.-Mar. 2013 of community and gendered identities. Each religion has its own codes of conducts. These codes are heart of religion and keep it alive through everyday reproduction of the religious rituals and beliefs. It is believed that each ritual has a deep philosophical meaning. As an outward external manifestation of religious doctrines, ritualistic actions are generally seen as intended to eradicate the evil karmas (deeds) to destroy the cycle of rebirth through the medium of ritualistic performance. Generally, rituals are formed in the prescribed order through scriptures or are enshrined in tradition. The majority of people who actually attend ritual performances, do so more to associate themselves with their religious community or to have a sense of belonging to their religion rather than for a full understanding of the spiritual meaning of the ritual. Thus ritual performance have multilayered objects for any religion, firstly to recall the inherent spiritual philosophy of the religion, secondly, as a mode of ensuring future salvation for the laity of the community and thirdly to bring community together by providing a sense of common identity and bondage. Thus for the larger community rituals remain a process of community formation. In this context medieval Jain history rituals remained a fiercely contested arena where scriptural and proper mendicant practices have been assessed to locate the true Jain lineage of the rituals. For convenience, we can categorize Jain rituals under two main headings: regular observances at the temples, and periodic observances, such as festivals, fasts, pilgrimages, and rites for special occasions. Worldly and otherworldly values have been brought into a culturally viable fusion within a specific Jain ritual culture. The cult of the Svetāmbara Dādāgurus integrated the religious tradition to which it belonged, and in so doing brought Jainism's goal of final liberation, always central to this tradition, into contact with the social and material world inhabited by an actual Jain community. Study of such standard features of Jain ritual culture reinterprets their ritual meanings and alters its context radically.
The whole process of the reconstruction of the Jain community on
