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SVASTI – Essays in Honour of Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah
of romantic issues such as prospects of marriage was suddenly strongly disapproved in that group. Getting used to the daily routine: the transforming effect of bodily efforts After this first week, the girls slowly got used to their new daily routine. They increased their daily pace and after some time were even able to perform three yatras in a relatively short period of time. It came the same time when I was no longer able to keep up with their pace. Thus one day, when they were performing their perhaps 25th pilgrimage, I met them on their ascent to the mountain. Similar to the ascetics the navanu girls from Bengalaru now climbed up the hill effortlessly. They also performed their ritual observances in a focused and proficient manner, knowing all liturgical texts by heart. Their increasing speed enabled the girls to return early enough to attend the daily sermons of Kanakratnasuri und Jayshekharsuri, which started at about 4 p.m. When I joined the girls on these occasions, I noticed that the daily reprimands, which were frequently uttered by the eloquent Acaryas in a humorous style to motivate the lay pilgrims, furthermore encouraged the friends to consciously apply the navanu rules and regulations. Hence, the girls stopped complaining about their hardships and began to look at their physical experience with a sense of black humor. For instance, one day, while combing each other's disheveled hair Neepa exclaimed: "Gosh, Joshika, I think after having completed navanu all your beauty will be gone! Can you tell me what happened to your hair? I am glad for you that your friends at college do not see you like that! O.K., but I think something has happened to me, too. Have you seen my legs? They are disgusting! When will I find time to pluck the hair? I hardly find time to take a quick bath once a day!” This kind of conversation also implied an air of surprise about how easy it is to live without all the time consuming beauty care, which shapes the life of an average Indian girl. Thus, the ascetic negligence of the girl's outer appearance stands in stark opposition to the daily hours of beauty “rituals”, which the girls were used to enjoy at home when taking several baths a day, shaving and peeling their bodies, changing their fashionable clothes frequently, carefully oiling and combing their hair, polishing nails, plucking eyebrows, and abundantly applying scented talcum powder on their skin. It was not new for the girls to be concerned with their bodies, but the way they treated their bodies during navanu was new and even adventurous to them. Apart from the physical strains deriving from the pilgrimages they had to adapt to an ascetic code of behavior that clearly stood in contrast to their everyday lives. To start with, they were only allowed to use three sets of garments, one for performing pilgrimages, one for sleeping and taking meals and one for touching the image of a tirthankara while performing puja. Their dresses during navanu consisted of polyamide salvar kamiz, which did not look fashionable, but were selected because this cloth dries quicker than
37 Moreover, only this garment must be worn while using the toilet.
