Meet the Jains

Have you heard of Jainism? Neither had I until last weekend, so when Elissa told us we'd be hiring a driver to take us to Shravanabelagola to see some ancient Jain temples, I had inadequate background knowledge to be sufficiently impressed. Although it is not a major world religion anymore, Jainism is one of the oldest Indian religions and was a prominent faith until about the 7th century AD, when it was increasingly edged out by Buddhism and Hinduism. It preaches tolerance, open-mindedness, and a non-violent attitude towards all living things, from humans and animals to plant life (when avoidable - the practical necessities of eating plants overrides the concern for injurious actions towards flora). Most Jains are vegetarians, for example, and will eat dairy products if the cow is not harmed in the process of supplying milk, but the strictest Jain practitioners will not even eat potatoes or other underground vegetables since the act of digging them up can disrupt and harm insects living in the soil.

On the drive to the temples we learned that our chauffeur, a mild-mannered gentleman who earned our favor early on by driving at a reasonable speed, was a Jain practitioner himself. As he dropped us off at our first destination, a stone temple far atop a craggy hill that looked to be made of volcanic debris, he encouraged us to take pictures despite the fact that this site was still in use by modern day Jains. "You must remember this place," he said, directing our gaze up at the structure. "Knowledge of souls, knowledge of karma. This is important."

Our van-driver-turned-guide claimed that this temple was built in the second century and that the pillars and interior columns had been carved from single pieces of rock. Jainism itself dates back to remote antiquity, possibly as early as 3,000-4,000 BC. Today about 4-6 million people worldwide practice Jainism, most of them in India.

The view from the temple. The hilltop in the distance contains a Jain monolith, which we also visited.

Our Jain driver!

After we were done admiring the temple, we hopped back in the van and the driver took us to visit the monolith, the largest in the world, which he said was named Bahubali and dates to the late 900s AD. Every 12 years, thousands of Jains congregate here for a ceremony in which the statue is annointed with water, ceremonial spices, rice flour, sugar cane juice, and flowers.

There is literally nowhere we can go without at least one Indian person asking to take a picture with us. "Is this what it feels like to be Natalie Portman?" Andrea wondered aloud recently. "If so, I feel like I don't really want to be famous."

I am not sure what the red paste consisted of but this man was very insistent on blessing us all with it.

Long before it was adopted and perverted by the Nazis, the swastika was an important Jain symbol representing the four types of existence: heavenly beings, human beings, hellish beings, and plant/animal beings. 

Our last stop of the day was another Jain temple, this one built in 1430 AD.

At one point I became separated from the group and an on-site historian and tour guide INSISTED that I sit down on the side of the temple so he could take this picture of me, then demanded that I switch the camera from viewfinder to review mode so that we could assess the result together. "Beautiful," he breathed, standing entirely too close to me, and I laughed uncomfortably before making an excuse to slip away and rejoin the group.

Katie and our driver

This column decoration is supposed to be a 3D trompe l'oeil: if you look at it from either side, it resembles a horse in profile. If you look at it straight on, the long trunk in the center resembles an elephant.

I thought I had successfully escaped the temple tour guide, but he caught up to me and Katie and again insisted that we take this selfie with the ornate ceiling in the background. We complied.

Two stone elephants flanked the entrance to the temple:

When our field trip had ended and we disembarked from the van, I thanked our driver for telling us the history of the sites and for sharing some details of his religion. "It was very interesting," I said. "We really appreciated it."

"Of course," he replied. "In Jainism, we have a saying: the function of souls is to help each other. This is the motto of the religion. This is what life means. You agree?"

"I agree," I said. "Absolutely."