The Site of Śatruñjaya: Eternal, Majestic & Sacred
“That’s the sacred intent of life, of God — to move us continuously toward growth, toward recovering all that is lost and orphaned within us and restoring the divine image imprinted on our soul.” — Sue Monk Kidd, American writer
The first talk of the current edition of the Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) course at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar was given by Ms Mana Shah (Lecturer in Sanskrit, HSS, IITGN). Titled One Tale, Two Tongues, and the Sacred Jain Site of Śatruñjaya, the online session (via Zoom and IITGN YouTube channel) took place on 13th January 2022 at 5 pm IST.
Siddhabhūmi
Mana Shah initiated the lecture by providing a glimpse of the location of Śatruñjaya. It is situated near the city of Palitana, near Bhavnagar in Gujarat (in the peninsular region of Saurashtra), with more than 900 temples having approximately 16,000 images. According to traditional Jain sources, this site is believed to be eternal (śāśvata) and is a sacred space. It is known as siddhabhūmi — the place where one can attain liberation (nirvāṇa). Several Jain tīrthaṅkaras have visited and meditated, and many great souls have attained mokṣa (freedom from the cycle of rebirth) from this place in the past. In the words of Mana Shah, “A two-way phenomenon is involved: people following the spiritual path go to this place because it is sacred, and this place becomes sacred because of the presence and sādhanā of those great souls.”
Image Courtesy: Collection of Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum, Ahmedabad
Archaeology & Literature
There is archaeological evidence of temple building from the 11th century on this site. The oldest inscription found dates to 1008 CE. Another inscription involving the famous Jain ministers Vastupal and Tejpal to the king Viradhavala Vaghela (Vaghela dynasty) dates to 1232 CE. There are several other inscriptions post this period.
The many pieces of literary evidence begin with Jain canonical texts where this site is referred to as siddhabhūmi. Post 10th century, we find independent literature dedicated to Śatruñjaya, such as Sārāvali Prakārṇaka, Śatruñjaya Kalpa, and Vividha Tīrtha Kalpa (having a separate chapter on this site). Ms. Shah mentioned that these literary references could be classified into three groups: ītihāsa-oriented (historical and mythical narratives), devotion-oriented (e.g., stotra), and pilgrimage-oriented (samghayātrās and caityaparipāṭīs). Caityaparipāṭīs were narrations by pilgrims that can serve as an effective tool to highlight the gradual development of a site. The traditional literature believes that Śatruñjaya has existed during all the six aras or epochs in the Jain cosmic wheel of time.
Śatruñjaya & Uddhāras: Understanding the Relationship
The history of Śatruñjaya is always told with reference to uddhāra, and this uddhāra has various meanings. Some of them include building a temple on this site, restoring the pilgrimage site after its natural decline, replacing the images on the temples at this place, restoring it after supernatural interventions, rebuilding temples with sustainable material (wood replaced by stone), restoring the destroyed images and temples or adding new temples after invasions. Hence, building or sustaining a sacred site can be called uddhāra. According to Mana Shah, “Chronicling uddhāras is a unique way of chronicling the history of Śatruñjaya. Uddhāra is a device that turns a sacred location into a place of worship because devotees always need an ālambana (something to depend on).”
Samarasiṃha & the 15th Uddhāra of Śatruñjaya
It is believed that Śatruñjaya has undergone multiple uddhāras till now. In the current cycle of time, there are 16 major restorations. Out of these, 12 are attributed to personalities belonging to the universal history of Jainism and involve the mythological ītihāsa of Śatruñjaya from the beginning of time. The remaining four restorations are historical, out of which one (the 15th uddhāra) was done in the 14th century by Samarasiṃha. There are two texts in Apabhraṃśa and Sanskrit languages that narrate Samarasiṃha’s restoration of the sacred Jain site of Śatruñjaya.
Mana Shah stated that the text in Apabhraṃśa is Ambadevasūri’s Saṃghapati Samarasiṃha-rāso, written in 1315 CE. Rāso is a unique literary genre to western Indian regions i.e. Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Malwa, used to compose historiographical tales. Apabhraṃśa is the last form of Prakrit before the beginning of Indian regional languages as we are familiar with them. The text in Sanskrit is Kakkasūri’s Nābhinandanajinoddhāra-prabandha. Prabandha is also a literary genre used for writing historiography (Indian ītihāsa). While rāsos are written in regional languages, prabandhas are composed in Sanskrit.
One Tale
A noteworthy aspect of this uddhāra is that it happened after an invasion of Śatruñjaya by Alauddin Khalji’s army during its rise in Gujarat. It was the first phase of the Islamic rule in Gujarat. Samarasiṃha diplomatically took permission from the Khalji Governor of Gujarat (Alp Khan, brother-in-law of Alauddin Khalji) to restore and protect this site. Samarasiṃha belonged to a wealthy merchant community whose favors Alp Khan needed; hence restoration of Śatruñjaya was a mutual benefit. Samarasiṃha took the pilgrimage procession from Patan (in north Gujarat) to Palitana, where the consecration ceremony of the Tīrthaṅkara image happened. After this, the procession went to the tirthayātrā of Girnar, visited Somnath, and eventually returned to Palitana and Patan. Several prominent monks and laities attended this yātrā, covering a distance of approximately 2000 km in three months on foot.
Two Tongues
Prakrit was believed to be sacred because Tīrthaṅkara Mahāvīra gave his preachings in Ardhamāgadhi Prakrit. It was also considered the language of the common people. A Jain monk who was part of Samarasiṃha’s pilgrimage procession narrated the incident for the first time in Prakrit. He composed a small text of 110 Apabhraṃśa gāthās, which included the brief ītihāsa of Śatruñjaya and genealogy of Samarasiṃha. However, after 21–22 years, the same incident was narrated again in Sanskrit, but now in 2344 ślokas. It consisted of detailed information about the event and some significant occurrences after this uddhāra.
What was the need for writing this text in Sanskrit?
Mana Shah highlighted that the narrative needed to be written again in an elaborate manner as several details were missing in the Apabhraṃśa text. The guru of the author of the Sanskrit prabandha guided Samarasiṃha and his family in this uddhāra. As a result, the author knew many things that the Apabhraṃśa text author did not. Moreover, Sanskrit also has a formal status, timeless appeal, and wider reach across India.
Tīrtha, Tīrthayātrā & Śatruñjaya’s Restoration
In Jainism, one meaning of tīrtha is the speech of Tīrthaṅkaras. They establish a four-fold community that helps a person attain liberation. This community and the texts that hold the meaning of Tīrthaṅkaras’ speech (jināgama) are also known as tīrtha. The sacred places where Tīrthaṅkaras were born, went, achieved liberation, and the images (jinabimba) of these Tīrthaṅkaras are also called tīrtha. Both texts discuss the central theme of the consecration of the Tīrthaṅkara image and tirthayātrā (pilgrimage) to accomplish that restoration (uddhāra).
Expressing her views, Mana Shah said, “This tale of Śatruñjaya imparts lessons of devotion, dharma, optimism, and wisdom. It is more important to recreate/restore than to be disheartened by the destruction.” She also observed that the devotees are more concerned with traditional accounts than historical accounts. Śatruñjaya’s identity as siddhabhūmi has more impact on their minds rather than its history in the modern sense of the term.
The talk concluded with a Q/A session. The second and third lectures of IKS 2022 will be given by Prof. Srinivas Reddy (Guest Professor, HSS, IITGN) titled Sweeter than Honey: The Rise and Advent of Classical Telugu Literature on 20th January, and Conquest of the World: Krishnadevaraya’s Amuktamalyada on 21st January 2022 at 5:05 pm IST. IKS 2022 is open to students from anywhere interested in Indian knowledge systems. They can audit it for free by filling out an online registration form available on the website.
This article is based on the first lecture of IKS 2022. The introductory article of this series can be found here.
