The Jaina Cult of Relic Stūpas
The Jaina Cult of Relic Stūpas Peter Flügel1 (SOAS) Abstract This article gives an overview of recent findings on the thriving cult of bone relic stūpas in contemporary Jaina culture. Although Jaina doctrine rejects the worship of material objects, fieldwork in India on the hitherto unstudied current Jaina mortuary rituals furnished clear evidence for the ubiquity of bone relic stūpas and relic venera- tion across the Jaina sectarian spectrum. The article discusses a representative case and assesses the significance of the overall findings for the history of religions. It also offers a new theoretical explanation of the power of relics. Keywords Jaina relic stūpas, mortuary rituals, Vallabha Samudāya, cultural unconscious, theory of generalized symbolic media, relics as social forms 1) I am indebted to Ācārya Vijaya Virendra Sūri, Muni Rajendra Vijaya, Sādhvī Suvratā Śrī, Rāj Kumār Jain, Tejpāl Jain, Vinod N. Dalal, Kīrti Prasād Jain, N. P. Jain, S. Sheth, M. P. Sheth and other members and supporters of the Vallabha Samudāya for their generous help during field research in India, and to Janet Leigh Foster for enhancing the quality of the photos of images selected from the photo albums of the Vallabha Smāraka which were taken with permission. Without the support of Ācārya Mahāprajña, Ācārya Śivmuni, Pravartaka Umeśmuni, Salāhakāra Dineś Muni, Upap- ravartaka Gautama Muni, Sādhvī Ārcanā, Mūḍabidarī Bhatṭ ārakạ Cārukīrti, Sohanlāl Sañcetī, and other Jains in India, my research on Jaina relic stūpas would not have been possible. I would like to thank all of them. I also wish to express my gratitude to Bansidhar Bhatt, Willem B.
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