Ablution Without Absolution

By Richard N. Ostling

India's Jains give a lavish bath to a 1,000-year-old idol

Well before daybreak thousands of the faithful begin toiling up 614 stone steps cut into a hillside in the southern Indian town of Shravanabelagola. Their goal: an open-air temple housing the great, gray granite statue of the Lord Bahubali, believed by them to be the first mortal in this epoch to have reached the state of kevala (nirvana-- or liberation) The statue is 58 ft. 8 in. high and 1,000 years old. Its 11-ft. head is covered with gently swirling curls. Its ears are elongated. The eyes are open in a sightless stare of introspection. Lord Bahubali, also known as Gomateshwara (Beautiful Lord), is digambara (literally, sky-clad), meaning naked.

Pilgrims assembled from all over India are about to witness the Maha Mastakabisheka (Great Head Bathing) of Jainism, the least-known and most rigorous of India's three ancient religions. Jain idols are ritually washed each day. But the Great Head Bathing in Shravanabelagola occurs only every twelve to 14 years, in part because the statue is huge and the ingredients required for the purification ceremony are so rich and various. In the course of three days, pilgrims pour 79 gal. each of milk, coconut water and sugar cane juice, as well as 992 Ibs. of multicolored spices and dyes, over the statue.

The first of 1,008 pilgrims to pour holy water is Calcutta Businessman Pannalal Ratanlal Gangwal, who paid $12,500 for the honor to help meet the festival's expenses. Others paid the same or lesser amounts. Smiles burst upon the faces of the onlookers, and cheering breaks out as water glitters down. The high point is the pouring of the milk. As the rivulets flow down the huge body, the face appears to change its impassive expression to one of exaltation. The crowd breathes a long "Oh-h-h-h" of reverence. The flood of yellow dye seems to turn that expression to a slight smile; the sandalwood gives the idol a stern visage. With a shower of flower petals and bits of gold and silver leaf, the rite is ended. On a prebath visit, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, too, dropped petals-- from a helicopter.

The Great Head Bathing, explains A.R. Nagaraj of the organizing committee, brings no absolution from sin. It propitiates no gods (indeed, Jainism has no gods). Most important, it does not help remove the oppressive cumulative weight of individual misdeeds known not only to Jains but to Hindus and Buddhists as karma. In all three faiths, karma is the force that compels a soul to undergo reincarnations.

The search for ways of escape from karma is what separated both Buddhists and Jains from the Hindu Brahmans during the 6th century B.C. While the Hindus offered ritual, meditation and devotion to the gods, the other two religions taught that karma and reincarnation could be escaped through the willed elimination of ego and desire. But Jainism proposed so radical an asceticism that, unlike Buddhism, it did not become a popular world faith. Today Jains in India number only an estimated 3 million (vs. 5 million Buddhists, 570 million Hindus). But Jainism's pre-eminent discipline, ahimsa (nonviolence), deeply influenced Mahatma Gandhi and altered the course of Indian history. Some Jain monks and laity are so scrupulously nonviolent that they wear face masks to avoid inadvertently swallowing and killing innocent insects, each of which bears a soul. Since farming kills minute organisms through tilling and flooding the land, lay followers of Jainism historically have gone into business. Because of their emphasis on self-mortification, Jains are thrifty and abstemious, and have become one of the wealthiest groups in India.

The Great Head Washing is arranged by the most conservative wing of Jainism, the Digambara. The highest monks wear no clothes because, like the Lord Bahubali of old, they entirely shun personal possessions. In their self-denial, Jain monks never bathe, brush their teeth or sleep on a bed. A few actually starve themselves to death.

Digambara laymen are not expected to endure such privations. But, they believe, this slackness and worldliness mean they will be obliged to live numberless future lives, seeking purification. Says S.P. Jain, who is both the organizer of the ritual and--in this life--head of a major chemical company: "No one here today will be here on the next 1,000th anniversary in this form. But I'll be here in some other form."

--By Richard N. Ostling. Reported by Marcia Gauger/Shravanabelagola

With reporting by Marcia Gauger / Shravanabelagola

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