The worship of Stūpa among the Jainas

It is true that among the Jain community the worship of Tīrthaṅkaras is more prominent, though before the concept of the image worship stūpa was the main object of worship. It is generally believed that the system of stūpa worship grew up with the rise and expansion of Buddhism. However, this system of worship appears to have been prevalent among all ancient Indian religious systems. The practice of stūpa erection, according to the traditions of Kalpa Sūtra is as old as the creation of this world. During the time of the first Tīrthaṅkara Ṛṣabhanāthathe practice of Thūbho or stūpa erections were for the first time introduced (Jacobi 1884: 6-8). Jain Āgamas also mentioned about the stūpa worship among the Jinas. Buhler mentioned that in Rāyapaseṇijjaupāṅga, stūpas surrounded by four Jinas are referred as to have adorned the Uvagāriyaleṇa of the god Sūriyābha (Bühler 1890: 313-31).

The Hāthīgumphā inscription is said to contain a reference to the Yūpa professors as performing religious activities on the Kumārī Hill in the vicinity of the Nisidiyā of the Arhaṃta. According to some scholars it indicates the existence of the Jain stūpa (Shah 1989: 251) . Except this inscriptional evidence there are some other epigraphic statements concerning about the erection of stūpa among the Jain community (Bühler 1984:195-212). A mutual corroboration of the epigraphic and traditional facts could well be employed to prove a hoary antiquity for the beginning of this form of worship in the Jainism probably not long after Mahāvīra. This system of worship seems to have been greatly in vogue during the early centuries of the Christian era which has been acknowledged on the basis of the stūpa ruins brought to light by the excavations held at Kaṅkālī-ṭilā, Mathura^[1] (Pl.XV.A).

Stūpa worship among the Jainas seems to have continued for quite a long time (Pl.XV.B & C). However, according to K. Bruhn (1993:54) “There is also the issue of “actual evidence”. There were Jain stūpa’s but they did not survive. As a consequence, the stūpa became a Buddhist monument.” Apart from isolated myths and legends in canonical and medieval Jain (Jain) literature depicting the veneration of the relics of the Tīrthaṅ karas by the gods, there is no indication of bone relic worship in early and medieval Jainism to date (See also Bhagwānlāl 1885:143f.; Bühler 1890b:328f.; Smith 1901; Marshall 1951 II:463; Shah 1955/1998:54ff.; Choudhury 1956:47, 65, 93f.; Jain 1987:136; Settar 1989; Sastri et al. 1992; Kasturibai & Rao 1995; Dundas 2002:219, 291, n. 4; Laughlin 2003:200; Bronkhorst 2005:53; Quintanilla 2007:38; Hegewald 2009:135–7).