In my youth I was apathetic to the concept of religion and abhorrent to rituals ( was brought up in an Arya Samaj-Vaishnav family). As one grows up one becomes more tolerant and realize that world is not binary. Religion is not just the guiding light for morality and studies have shown that religion / faith boosts mental health. At least I find it so. I sometimes regret not bringing up my children "with faith", wondering if that would have equipped them better to deal with stress of life. Married into a Jain family I find Jainism is probably closer to a scientific bent of mind than any other, the little that I may know about other religions.
In ancient India, Jainism was a marked contrast to the Brahminical views of Hinduism, specially creationism, it probably grew as a reaction to it. It does not try to answer the questions of the birth of the Universe nor who created it. It serves more to be the beacon for the correct path to follow in the present life with Ahimsa ( non- Violence), Kshama (forgiveness), Samyak Jeevan ( moderate life) as the basic tenets. Live the present life correctly without worrying about where one came from and where would one go after death. There is no data for life before and after death and drawing any conclusions like creationism, concept of heaven and hell, rebirth is pointless.
Jains revere cleanliness to the point of obsession. Jain temples are
primarily made of marble available aplenty in this region of Rajasthan.
A cool, clean floor is so welcoming in the heat of Rajasthan. Except
for a few days of the year, Jains worship not as a community but
individually. They worship not God directly but through the Tirthankars who
showed the path to God. The chief offerings are uncooked rice, coconut kernel pieces, cloves, and uncooked lotus seeds... none of which creates
any mess. Besides these they offer a lamp/deepak with ghee as fuel that only adds to the
peaceful atmosphere of the mandir.
With non-violence imbued in their basic nature, the Jain were never rulers but were more likely to be in occupations related to finance, business or finance ministers of various rulers. Most of the historical Jain religious centers are in the eastern part of India but over time they migrated all over India probably for patronage of the ruling class and business opportunities. For last few hundred years they have been concentrated in the west part of India where they played influential role in the governance and business. Mewar region of Rajasthan and Gujarat has seen strong influence of Jains. Consequently a number of Jain temples, built in the last 10 centuries, dot this region. So a trip to Mewar was definitely going to include some of them. Mewar boasts of two of the most beautiful ancient temples of Jains, Dilwara temple complex and Ranakpur temple complex, both were constructed by Shvetamber Jains, under the patronage of Rajput rulers, the Ranas of Mewar.
Dilwara Temple complex: This complex is situated on one of the highest mountains of Mount Abu. The beauty of the place can not be described. It can only be admired. The intricate carvings in the roof of the cloisters can be seen even from the ground. Photography inside the temple complex is not allowed so this is a representative picture from the wiki.
Ranakpur Temple Complex: Ranakpur lies in the middle of the Arawali mountains... not easy to get there. While the quality of marble, I am told, is not as good as that in Dilwara, the carving is as intricate. There is a vast complex of religious buildings and living quarters for the saints around the main temple. Once again the beauty of the place can only be admired. We were allowed to take pictures except that of the Tirthankars. A few pictures from visit to the temple complex during our trip are included here.
This collage shows some of the carved roof of the innumerable cloister surrounding the main deity. Even though they are at such a height, no effort has been spared in the elaborate carvings and no two are identical.
Here is another collage showing the minutely carved pillars of the main hall and the cloisters. See how clean, light and airy the whole temple is... practically invites you to sit down to relax and maybe meditate.
The whole structure looks imposing from outside. The picture below actually shows only one side of it. The temple itself has a huge underground with the purpose of safe keeping all the statues in the event of an attack. Contingencies :).
Subscribe by Email
Follow Updates Articles from This Blog via Email
No Comments