Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Jain festival turns out to be a crowd-puller

Staff Reporter

Girls enact the five important stages of Tirthankara's life

DIVINE DRAMA: Girls from the Jain community present a ballet as part of Pratistha Mahotsav in Vijayawada on Tuesday. Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

VIJAYAWADA: The newly built Sri Sambhavnath Jain Mandir behind Swagruha Foods on Bandar Road has become the centre of activity for Jains in the city. Tuesday was no exception as a group of girls, dressed gracefully as queens and their equally charming maids, attracted huge crowds by enacting the `Janma Kalyanak' of Sri Sambhavnath, the third of the 24 Jain Tirthankaras.

Enactment of the five kalyanaks (five important stages of the Tirthankara's life) forms part of the ongoing Pratistha Mahotsav at the temple. They include Chyavan (about garbhadharana) kalyanak, which illustrates about the conception of the Tirthankara by his mother, the janma (birth) kalyanak, deeksha (renunciation) kalyanak, kevala gnana (becoming all knowledgeable) kalyanak and the ultimate nirvana (moksha) kalyanak.

Anxious wait

Devotees, who feasted their eyes on the reconstruction of the chyavan kalyanak staged on Monday, could not wait to see the next stage, the janma kalyanak, on Tuesday. In the first stage, the tirthankara's mother dreamt 14 dreams in a series. According to swapna sastras, this feature is noticed only in a woman conceiving either a Tirthankara or a chakravarthy (emperor). The anxious queen tells the king about her dreams and he summons a soothsayer. The soothsayer breaks the good news, which is followed by loud celebrations everywhere.

The depiction of janma kalyanak had the viewers gazing in awe at the birth of the Tirthankara, the suchikarma (the cleaning exercise that entails delivery of a baby) by 56 devis and the indications of the arrival of a great person. The news of the birth spreads like fire and the delirious kind and his subjects break into wild celebrations. This is followed by his abhishekham where the Tirthankara is anointed and bathed on mount Peru, the centre of Jambu Dvipa.

On Wednesday, the Tirthankara's kalyanamahotsava will be performed on the temple premises. The community elders have invited Surendra guruji, a teacher in a Jain religious school in Bangalore to perform the five kalyanaks of the Tirthankara.

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