Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A picturesque stone doorkeeper, and huge elephant sculptures, stood outside the
temple. For some reason, photography is allowed inside including the idol. There were no
naked priests present, only pictures of naked gurus covering their private parts. Not that I
wanted to
see
a skinny, old naked man, never an attractive sight. Still, the photograph in-
side showed a well-fed ascetic. Jains filled this small temple making their devotions while
we tried to be unobtrusive; a losing battle for the only two westerners on top of Palitana
today.
We painfully limped over hard rice grains around other temples, heading towards the
most important temple complex dedicated to the first
tirthankar
, Lord Adinath (Rishab-
deva). Through a courtyard with sellers standing on a platform hawking individual roses
and garlands to be used for offerings. The roses smelled so wonderful that I would have
gladly bought a strand to wear, if it wouldn't have been offensive.
The Important 11th Century Jain Temple
Before walking
inside
the 11th century temple dedicated to the 1st
tirthankar
, Lord Ad-
inath, we climbed to the roof of an adjacent temple to look down on the throngs of people.
The courtyard was filled with Jains sitting in prayer, a beautiful
bhavacakra
/mandala
(wheel of life) in the center, money and fruit offerings. All food offerings would be trashed
later since once it is offered to a deity, no one else can partake. Different, silver-colored
wagons in the shape of elephants, thrones, and horses, were waiting to be pulled in a pro-
cession.
A few temple rituals that revolve around the sacred images are:
Circumambulating (go around in a circle) the Jin idols three times;
Salute the idols of
Tirthankars
three times;
Perform a
Puja
, one of which is done by placing incense, rice, fruit, and sweets in front of
idols;
Clean the ground before sitting down so that no small insect is hurt by you sitting on it; and
It is important not to wear silk, or leather articles, inside the temple.
All Jains carry special clothing used only in temples since they need to be purified
before entering. (Street clothes are considered to be dirty.) There were separate dressing
rooms for men and women to bathe and change into their temple clothes; white
dhotis
for
men and temple saris for women. Saris cannot have any
black
in them, or touches of black,
considered evil. Leave your LB anything at home.
Thus purified, men and women queued up in separate lines to enter. Steve and I also
entered this important temple packed between the throngs. Unable to see, or understand,
exactly what was happening, we exited quickly.
Exhausted from the heat and climb, we sat down on the temple steps to people-watch,
and talk to Jains who approached us, curious about the only two westerners in Palitana
today. The sweetest little girl sang, "Sheila Ki Javani" to me when she heard my name was
Sheila, and then insisted on introducing us to her father and friends.
