Article: Three Jina festivals

Women singing hymns
Image by Dey – Dey Alexander © CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

One of the most widely worshipped Jinas is the 23rd, Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva. Falling in late December or early January in the Western calendar, the festival of Poṣa-daśamī celebrates his birth and is thus also known as Pārśvanātha-jayantī.

The standard festival activities of fasting, worship, sermons and meditation feature in celebrations of Poṣa-daśamī. Special decorations are used to honour idols of the Jina and a lamp with 108 wicks is reserved for performance of the lamp ceremony. However, these are not required to mark the festival. Jains belonging to all sects observe Poṣa-daśamī and it is not strongly connected with any particular place, though some Gujarati Śvetāmbaras may go on a pilgrimage.

Pārśva’s birth
Image by British Library © CC0 1.0 (Creative Commons Public Domain)

Poṣa-daśamī does not demonstrate any very unusual celebrations. In common with other Jain festivals, Poṣa-daśamī is characterised by both communal and individual actions. This religious event therefore helps to generate community feeling among the local Jains and create a coherent Jain cultural and religious identity for outsiders. Devout lay people may individually choose to keep vows for the duration of the festival, usually relating to food. Activities involving the whole community of local Jains take place chiefly in the neighbourhood temple or mendicant dwelling-hall. Lay Jains visit the temple to hear the monks and nuns deliver sermons and stories relating to the subject of worship, Pārśvanatha or Lord Pārśva.

The Jina Pārśva is at the centre of worship during Poṣa-daśamī – his temples, his images and legendary episodes of his career. Statues of the Jina are hung with special ornaments and a dedicated lamp with 108 wicks may be used for the lamp ritual performed during regular evening worship. Although this festival can be celebrated anywhere, places with temples dedicated to Pārśva are especially popular.

For Gujaratis who want to practise a three-day fast – aṭṭham – Śankheśvar is a favourite destination. This is a favoured pilgrimage site in which to observe a three-day fast because it recalls a legendary episode. It is said that Kṛṣṇa, the cousin of the 22nd Jina Nemi, performed this fast there. This led him to obtain the Śankheśvar image of Pārśva, which was instrumental in his defeat of his enemy Jarāsandha (Cort 2001: 180).

Ṛṣabha meditating
Image by Given by Miss Clara Montalba © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The festival of Meru-trayodaśī does not always appear in lists of Jain holy days and has hardly been described in scholarly literature. An example of the overlap between a vow or religious commitment over a long period of time and a festival, it shows the flexibility of the Jain religious calendar in allowing certain holy days to evolve over time. The stories of the 24 Jinas offer numerous chances to commemorate significant events in their lives but not all such remembrances are celebrated widely enough to be considered festivals.

Meru-trayodaśī has developed from a day that marks a key event in the life of the first Jina, Ṛṣabhanātha or Lord Ṛṣabha, to a fairly well-known, if minor, festival. Centring on a vow to perform certain rituals each month, this festival can thus be seen as a way of completing the Jain religious calendar. Adding a date connected with Ṛṣabha, who is otherwise prominent only in the festival of Akṣaya-tṛtīyā, ensures that the most-worshipped Jinas each have festivals associated with them.

Nandyāvarta in rice
Image by Cactusbones – Sue Ann Harkey © CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0

The Meru-trayodaśī rituals demonstrate particular elements of Jain religious philosophy, namely the auspiciousness of numbers, mantras, symbols and cosmographical features. The connection of the number 13 with the festival is underlined in some of the ceremonies.

According to a contemporary Śvetāmbara mendicant, Muni Bhuvana-vijaya, the festival consists of a sequence of rituals. These rites take place in addition to the standard activities associated with Jain festivals, such as going to the temple to hear sermons and stories, singing hymns, performing confession and making donations. Regularly performing the rites over given lengths of time is believed to destroy all the karmas that have been accumulated and to achieve success in this lifetime.

On the 13th day of the dark half of Māgha, the devotee observes a cauvihār fast. This fast means avoiding both food and water.

The devotee places five silver replicas of Mount Meru in front of an image of Ṛṣabhanātha or Lord Ṛṣabha. Four small replicas are set at each of the cardinal directions, with a bigger model in the centre.

The worshipper creates an auspicious svastika and nandyāvarta in front of each of the four small Merus. Then he or she performs pūjā with lights, incense and so on to each of the models.

The believer then recites the mantra Oṃ Hrīṃ Śrī Ṛṣabha-deva-pāraṃgatāya namaḥ – Homage to Ṛṣabha-deva who has reached the other shore – two thousand times. The term ‘the other shore’ refers to the emancipation of Ṛṣabha’s soul from the cycle of rebirth.

If the worshipper has been keeping a fast, he or she breaks it after offering alms to a monk or nun.

Performing these rituals is central to celebrating the holy day of Meru-trayodaśī. However, ideally, they should be repeated on the 13th day of the dark half of every month, for a minimum of 13 months and a maximum of 13 years. Completing this commitment ensures the destruction of karmas and worldly success in the current birth.

A devotee should observe the Meru-trayodaśī rituals according to his or her capabilities. This may mean that sometimes the festival is not celebrated, some months the fast cannot be completed or models of Mount Meru cannot be found.