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Situating Pārśva's Biography in Varanasi

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Situating Pārśva's Biography in Varanasi religions Article Situating Par´sva’s¯ Biography in Varanasi Ellen Gough Department of Religion, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA; [email protected] Received: 8 January 2020; Accepted: 25 February 2020; Published: 9 March 2020 Abstract: This study shows how Varanasi, a site that many people understand to be a sacred Hindu city, has been made “Jain” through its association with the lives of four of the twenty-four enlightened founders of Jainism, the jinas or t¯ırthankara˙ s. It provides an overview of the Jain sites of worship in Varanasi, focusing especially on how events in the life of the twenty-third t¯ırthankara˙ Par´svawere¯ placed in the city from the early modern period to the present day in order to bring Jain wealth and resources to the city. It examines the temple-building programs of two Svet´ ambara¯ renunciants in particular: the temple-dwelling Ku´salacandrasuri¯ of the Kharataragaccha (initiated in 1778), and the itinerant Ac¯ arya¯ Rajaya´sas¯ uri¯ of the Tapagaccha¯ (b. 1945). While scholars and practitioners often make a strong distinction between the temple-dwelling monks (yatis) who led the Svet´ ambara¯ community in the early modern period and the peripatetic monks (munis) who emerged after reforms in the late nineteenth-century—casting the former as clerics and the latter as true renunciants—ultimately, the lifestyles of Ku´salacandrasuri¯ and Rajaya´sas¯ uri¯ appear to be quite similar. Both these men have drawn upon the wealth of Jain merchants and texts—the biographies of Par´sva—toestablish¯ their lineage’s presence in Varanasi through massive temple-building projects. Keywords: Jainism; Varanasi; biography; sacred space; monasticism; temple-building; Par´sva;¯ Padmavat¯ ¯ı On the banks of the river Ganges, just south of Pañcagang˙ a¯ Gha¯t. in the holy city of Varanasi, a small shrine to the snake goddess Padmavat¯ ¯ı sits in the basement of an early nineteenth-century Svet´ ambara¯ Jain temple as a testament to an unsuccessful attempt to establish this area of Varanasi as a flourishing site of Jain worship (Figure1). This shrine, inside the Svet´ ambara¯ Cintama¯ n. i Par´svan¯ ath¯ 1 2 temple near Ram¯ Gha¯t., celebrated its 200-year anniversary in March of 2014, and it is said to mark the exact spot where the twenty-third t¯ırthankara˙ Par´svasaved¯ a pair of snakes from a tortuous death inside the fires of an immoral ascetic. It was commissioned by the temple-dwelling monk (yati) Ac¯ arya¯ Ku´salacandrasuri¯ of the Dinma˙ n. d. alac¯ arya¯ branch (´sakh¯ a¯) of the mendicant lineage the Kharataragaccha (Figure2). Ku´salacandras uri¯ was initiated in Varanasi in 1778 and spent his entire 3 life as a yati in the Ram¯ Gha¯t. temple, overseeing its library of Jain manuscripts and the construction, restoration, and maintenance of five temples in and around the city. From 1778 to 1966, when the last temple-dwelling monk of Ku´salacandrasuri’s¯ lineage, Ac¯ arya¯ H¯ıracandras¯ uri,¯ passed away, this temple at Ram¯ Gha¯t. continued to be the main residence for yatis in Varanasi and a center for Svet´ ambara¯ Jainism (Vinayasagara¯ 2004, p. 326). Today, however, few Jains visit the temple, and the early nineteenth-century 1 For this article, I will transcribe the Hindi for “Jain” and the names of temples and specific places in Varanasi (including the word gha¯.t). I will use the most common English transcription for people who are not monks and more commonly-known place names (e.g., Chowk, Varanasi, Gujarat). I will transcribe the Sanskrit for all other terms, including the names of monks and t¯ırthankara˙ s. 2 Jainam Jayati Shasa Nam, 200 Glorious Years of Temple, EventViva. Available online: https://eventviva.com/event/ 179762095464290 (accessed on 1 May 2014). 3 On Ku´salacandrasuri¯ and his disciples, see Vinayasagara¯ (2004, pp. 324–26). Religions 2020, 11, 117; doi:10.3390/rel11030117 www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Religions 2020, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 26 Religions 2020,, 11,, 117x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 26 25 the early nineteenth-century mural that once covered the entirety of the wall behind the shrine to Padmthe earlyāvat nineteenth-centuryī has now been painted mural over that and once replaced covere withd the an entirety unsophisticated of the wall scene behind of P theārś vashrine saving to muralthePadm snakesā thatvatī once(Figurehas now covered 1). been the painted entirety over of theand wall replaced behind with the an shrine unsophisticated to Padmavat¯ ¯ıscene has now of P beenārśva painted saving overthe snakes and replaced (Figure with1). an unsophisticated scene of Par´svasaving¯ the snakes (Figure1). Figure 1. Padmāvatī shrine in the Cintāmaṇi Pārśvanāth temple near Rām Ghāṭ, Varanasi. Nineteenth FigureCentury. 1. Padmavat¯āvat¯ıī shrine shrine in in the the Cint Cintama¯ āman. i Pṇar´svan¯i Pārśathvan¯ templeāth temple near Rnearam¯ Gh Rāa¯mt., Varanasi.Ghāṭ, Varanasi. Nineteenth Nineteenth Century. Century. Figure 2. Nineteenth-centuryNineteenth-century painting of Ku Ku´salacandrasśalacandrasuriū¯ ri seated in the lecture hall of the Cint āama¯manṇ. i PFigureāar´svan¯rśvan 2.āath¯ thNineteenth-century Temple at R āam¯m Gh Ghpaintingāa¯ṭt.,, with with of theKu the śdooralacandras door open open ūto tori theseated the Ganges Ganges in the behind lecture behind him.hall him. ofThis the This paintingCint paintingāma ṇisi isPestablishedā establishedrśvanāth Templein ina shrine a shrine at R inām inthe Gh the ālectureṭ lecture, with hallthe hall door(up (upāśa´sraya¯ rayaopen) ) ofto of thethe the temple,Ganges temple, behindso so it it has has him. been This dapped painting with is sandalwoodestablished in paste. a shrine in the lecture hall (upāśraya) of the temple, so it has been dapped with sandalwood paste. Across town, however, in the center of Varanasi, in Bhelūupur,¯ pur, at the supposed site of the conception,Across birth,town, enlightenment, however, in the and center renunciation of Varanasi, of Par´sva,aā¯r śinva, Bhel a massive, ūpur, at thriving the supposed ŚSvet´vetāambara¯mbara site temple of the ofconception, red sandstone birth, andenlightenment, white marble and flourishes.flourishes. renunciation The oftemple Pārśva, was a massive, designed thriving in Maru-Gurjaraā¯ru-Gurjara Śvetāmbara (Sola templeṅnk˙kī¯ı)) styleof red4 bysandstone the Gujarati and Chandrakantwhite marble Somapura,flourishes. the The architect temple wasof a proposed designed inRam M āJanmabh ru-Gurjaraūumi¯mi (Sola Temple ṅkī) instyle Ayodhya4 by the and Gujarati the Akshardham Chandrakant Temple Somapura, in Gandhinagar, the architect5 of and a proposed it was commissioned Ram Janmabh byūmi a Gujarati Temple in Ayodhya and the Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar,5 and it was commissioned by a Gujarati 4 On the Maru-Gurjara¯ (Solank˙ ¯ı) architecture, which developed in Gujarat and Rajasthan between the eleventh and thirteenth 4 centuries,On the M see ā ru-Gurjara Hegewald ((Sola 2015 ,ṅ p. k ī 136).) architecture, which developed in Gujarat and Rajasthan between the eleventh 4 Onand the thirteenth Māru-Gurjara centuries, (Sola seeṅk Hegewaldī) architecture, (2015, which p. 136). developed in Gujarat and Rajasthan between the eleventh 5 andDebashish thirteenth Mukerji centuries, & Ajay see HegewaldUprety. Making (2015, p.of 136). the mandir. The Week, June 7, 1998. Available online: 5 Debashishhttps://www.theweek.in/theweek/cover/ayodhya-temple- Mukerji & Ajay Uprety. Making of the mandir.construction.html The Week, June (accessed 7, 1998. on 6Available January 2020). online: https://www.theweek.in/theweek/cover/ayodhya-temple-construction.html (accessed on 6 January 2020). Religions 2020, 11, 117 3 of 25 Religions 2020, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 26 in Ayodhya and the Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar,5 and it was commissioned by a Gujarati monk whowho isis rarelyrarely inin Varanasi Varanasi and and has has rejected rejected living living in in temples, temples,Ac¯ aryaĀ¯ cārya Rajaya´sas¯ Rājayauriś¯asū (b.ri 1945)(b. 1945) of the of mendicantthe mendicant lineage lineage the Tap theagaccha¯ Tapāgaccha (Figure 3(Figure). On November 3). On November 17, 2000, after17, nine2000, years after ofnine construction years of involvingconstruction upwards involving of 200 upwards workers, ofAc¯ 200arya¯ workers, Rajaya´sas¯ Āuri¯cārya led theRājaya consecrationśasūri led of the the consecration temple, but his of vowthe totemple, live a but peripatetic his vow lifestyle to live meanta peripatetic that he lifestyle did not takemeant permanent that he did residence not take in permanent this temple, residence or in any in of thethis manytemple, other or in temples any of hethe has many commissioned other temples in the he lasthas fewcommissioned decades (Singh in the and last Rana few 2002 decades, pp. (Singh 205–7). Despiteand Rana the 2002, lack pp. of 205–7). permanent Despite mendicant the lack presenceof permanent at the mendicant temple, however, presence it at has the become temple, thehowever, center forit hasSvet´ becomeambara¯ the Jainism centerin for Varanasi, Śvetāmbara greeting Jainism the in most Varanasi,Svet´ ambara¯ greeting visitors the most of any Śvet templeāmbara in thevisitors city, housingof any temple the o ffiinces the of city, the housingSvet´ ambar¯ the Toffices¯ırth Society of the Ś thatvetā overseesmbar Tīrth most Society of the thatSvet´ overseesambara¯ most temples of the in theŚvet city,āmbara and temples hosting upwardsin the city, of and 9000 hosting pilgrims upwards a year inof its9000 adjoined pilgrims guest a year house in its (dharma´s adjoinedal¯ a¯
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