Article: Kārttika Pūrṇimā

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Kārttika Pūrṇimā – part 1

The festival of Kārttika Pūrṇimā marks the end of the rainy season and the start of ordinary activities, which stop during the monsoon period. Men chant and clap loudly before the idol of a Jina from the temple is borne in procession – ratha-yātrā.

This two-part YouTube video records the 2010 Kārttika Pūrṇimā festival celebrated in Kolkata in West Bengal by Śvetāmbara Jains. This is the first part and you can watch the second part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5SnSFbxbq4

Kārttika Pūrṇimā – part 2

The Kārttika Pūrṇimā festival celebrates the end of the rainy season, when ordinary life can begin again. The image of a Jina from the temple is carried in procession through the streets – ratha-yātrā – while people wave fly-whisks before it, a symbol of royalty. People throw rice grains or sacred powder on to the idol. Though common in many Jain festivals, the idol procession is often a key part of Kārttika Pūrṇimā.

This two-part YouTube video records the 2010 Kārttika Pūrṇimā festival in Kolkata in West Bengal, as celebrated by Śvetāmbara Jains. This is the second part and you can watch the first part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxT_EH55mn8

Jain ascetic

The Cleveland Museum of Art provides an unusual painting of a Jain monk carrying his mendicant equipment. Clad in white robes, the monk holds his alms bowl and a staff, which mark him out as a member of a Śvetāmbara Mūrti-pūjaka sect. Under his arm he carries his monastic broom and what may be a holy text. The Gujarati artist, Basawan, who worked for the Mughal Emperor Akbar, painted this picture around 1600, and its realistic treatment shows familiarity with European artistic styles.

http://www.clevelandart.org/art/1967.244

Terāpanthin monks and nuns

This YouTube video shows Śvetāmbara Terāpanthin monks and nuns walking down a street in New Delhi in July 2009. Clad in white and wearing the mouth cloth – muṃhpatti – they walk barefoot, carrying their monastic equipment in bags and bundles. They are accompanied by lay Jains, many of the women dressed in orange, which is a holy colour in India. Among the monks is Ācārya Mahāprajña, the tenth ācārya or leader of the sect, who died in May 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzZ_SHDSrAI

Resting place on Mount Shatrunjaya

One of the seven stopping-places or shelters for pilgrims to rest on their way up Mount Shatrunjaya. This was built in 2006 by a Jain businessman in the name of his wife. The hundreds of temples that make up the temple-city are chiefly on the two peaks and are reached by climbing a steep path with some 4000 steps.

This picture is in a photo-gallery on the commercial website of Indian Panorama.

http://www.indianpanorama.in/gallery/palitana_gujarat/pages/Shatrunjaya06_jpg.htm

Historical images of Mount Shatrunjaya

Look through historical photographs and drawings of the Svetāmbara temple-city of Mount Shatrunjaya in the JAINpedia image gallery, chosen from the online collection of the British Library.

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/showgallery.html?id=5585