Prof. Dr. Lawrence A. Babb
It is time to return to the temple complex at Mohan Bari in Jaipur where we observed Parsvanath's five-kalyanak puja. This is not the community's most important temple, but it is of great interest to us because it exhibits a range of diverse ritual subtraditions in close physical juxtaposition.[1] As we know, the main shrine is dedicated to Rsabh; here he is represented (unusually for a Tirthankar) by a pair of feet (carans) carved in stone. The other structures in the complex do not contain representations of the Tirthankars at all; rather, they are shrines dedicated to various monks and nuns of the past. One shrine contains an image of Santi Vijay, a monk famous for his miracles, who died in 1943. There is also a large structure at the spot where the last rites were performed for a much beloved Khartar Gacch nun named Vicaksansri, who died in 1980. Within is her very lifelike image, protected by a glass case. In 1991 a similar shrine was under construction nearby for a nun named Sajjansri, who died in 1989. Yet another shrine houses the footprint images of four very distinguished Khartar Gacch monks, known as Dadagurus or Dadagurudevs, who lived centuries ago. There are foot images of other deceased monks and nuns as well. The representations of all these ascetics of the past are objects of worship.[2]
The temple complex at Mohan Bari encourages us mentally to rotate the cult of the Tirthankars slightly so that we see it at an unaccustomed angle. At first glance the worship of the Tirthankars seems discontinuous with any wider ritual context at all. Such a view is encouraged by the tradition's own habitual emphasis on the idea that the worship of the Tirthankars is a kind of physical enactment of soteriological ideas and values. Mohan Bari teaches us that this impression is in some ways quite misleading, at least for the image-worshiping Svetambar Jains of Jaipur. We see that to the sensibilities of those who constructed and use this temple, the worship of Tirthankars has a natural home among mortuary cults - indeed that it is a particular kind of mortuary cult, albeit one with exceptional characteristics.[3]
This chapter deals with the worship of deceased ascetics who are not Tirthankars, and in particular with the cult of the Dadagurus. This means that our regional focus now shifts decisively to Rajasthan and Jaipur, and to the Khartar Gacch.[4] The chapter will show that, as sacred personae, the Dadagurus are in some ways quite Tirthankar-like. If we focus specifically on transactions, however, we see that their relationship with worshipers is very different from that of the Tirthankars. This difference supports, and is supported by, a symbolic surround that shares some similarities with the cult of the Tirthankars but is strikingly different in its orientation toward worldly values. The cult of the Dadagurus is, I therefore suggest, a ritual subculture with a regional (Rajasthan) and ascetic-lineage (the Khartar Gacch) focus. It utilizes many of the ritual idioms and usages described in the preceding two chapters, but it does so in a very different context, a context in which overt recognition is given to the worldly ambitions and desires of devotees. If ascetic and worldly values are in tension at the tradition's highest levels, in this ritual subculture they are brought into a far more stable relationship.
Our point of departure will be an exploration of how an ideal ascetic career is conceptualized. We shall see that this conceptualization is a bridge between ascetic values and a certain kind of ritual response to such values. We then examine the Dadagurus and the ritual subculture of which they are the focus.
Its dating is uncertain, but it is certainly not very old. As far as I am aware, the earliest inscriptional date in the temple is 1803 C.E., which is given as the date of the consecration of a foot image of Jinkusalsuri. I thank Surendra Bothara for this information.
Santi Vijay's image and the various foot images of other ascetics are given full rites of worship daily by the temple's pujari on his normal morning rounds. Vicaksansri's image is worshiped less formally.
