YJA Convention 1994 07 Chicago IL First

Author(s): Young Jains of America (YJA)
Publisher: Young Jains of America YJA USA

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among Jains even in Mahavira's time.
Further evidence concerning the history of devapuja in Jainism is provided by various stone remains unearthed at Mathura. These cover perhaps a thousand years of Jain history; a few may date back to the second century B.C. The most significant items in the Mathura collection are certain votive slabs (ayaga-pata) of the type usually donated to a temple by a group of several lay-devotees. Some of these depict Jinas seated in meditation, surrounded by various auspicious signs swastikas, fish trees as well as by gods, men, and animals. This scene, of course, is the samavasarana so often described in Jain literature. It is especially noteworthy for the lotus (meditative) posture of its central figure, which conforms strictly to the Jain doctrine that an omniscient being no longer sleeps (as Buddha, for example, is often shown doing), and certainly does not engage in passionate worldly activities. (Compare the dancing, warring, or sportive poses used by Hindus in depicting their various gods.) Even the well-known statues of Jain saints standing erect, arm and hands pointed downwards, illustrate a form of deepest meditation (in this case conjoined with the practice of kayolsarga). Indeed no Jina-image has ever been found which shows the great being in any but one of these two "orthodox" positions, suggesting omniscient awareness and complete non violence.
Another group of votive slabs taken from Mathura depicts what appear to be Jain stupas (reliquary mounds); this is particularly interesting since neither the sravakacaras nor the current practices of Jainism give any indication that a cult of relic-worship once flourished within the tradition. No stupas housing the remains of Jain teachers have yet been discovered; those shown on slabs, however, are very similar in design to the Buddhist ones which survive at Sanchi and elsewhere. In any case, we know that Jains never carried the stupa cult to a great extreme; their efforts seemed to have been directed more towards the straightforward construction and veneration of images (or some variation thereof); for a time it seems to have
Jain Education Intemational
been popular to commemorate the great teachers by placing footprints (paduka) in stone and paying homage to these artifacts.
Whatever the particulars of the development of these practices, building, consecrating, and regularly venerating images of the Tirthankars today constitute the primary religious activities of lay Jains. The popularity of these practices should not, however, be construed to mean that Jains expect worldly help of any sort from the Jinas thus worshiped; they know full well that these perfected beings are forever beyond the pale of human affairs. In other words, there is basically no "deity" present in a Jain temple; a one-way relation obtained between the devotee and the object of his devotion. Hence we must understand Jain image-worship as being of a meditational nature; the Jina is seen merely as an ideal, a certain mode of the soul, a state attainable by all embodied beings. Through personification of that ideal state in stone, the Jain creates a meditative support, as it were, a remainder of his lofty goal and the possibility
of its attainment.
Even Jains, however, have not been totally immune to the lure of "divine powers." Under the influence of Hindu devotionals, there appeared certain god-images in Jain temples during the medieval period. The divinities chosen were those associated in a benevolent manner with the careers of various Jinas, for example, the snake god Dharanendra and his consort Padmavati, who protected Parshva from several extraordinary calamities which threatened him. Such beings, referred to as sasanadevata, guardian spirits, are considered able to fulfill mundane wishes; they may often be appealed to on this level by "weaker" segments of the Jain community. Even so, they have never been allowed to usurp the primary position occupied by the Jina himself, despite the fact that Jina-worship promises no reward whatsoever save the turning of one's mind towards the goal of Moksha.
The "unreachable" nature of a Jina renders the presence of any priest or other intermediary, such as one normally finds in traditions more
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