The Usages of the Homage to the Five Supreme Entities in the Romance Poems (8th–12th Centuries)

Abstract

Used to mark devotion to the main propagators of Jainism, namely the Jina (arhat), the Liberated Souls (siddha), the Teachers (ācārya), the spiritual Guides (guru), the Preceptors (upādhyāya), and the monks (muṇi), the formula of homage to the five supreme entities (pañcanamaskāra) underwent a significant development in the medieval period where it became a mantra protecting against all evils and violence and symbolising Jainism in its entirety and its respect for life in all its forms amidst the various Indian religions. In the present paper, I intend to investigate how the formula was used in largely unknown romance poems composed in the Prakrit language by Jaina scholar monks in medieval North India between the 8th and 12th centuries. Particular attention will be paid to how the writer monks used the formula of homage in the narrative to avoid the use of violence. The analysis will also focus on the development of the formula in the hymns of praise of the romance poems and study its significance in the context of the spread of Jainism at the turn of the first millennium, a period that led to the advent of King Kumārapāla, who has remained famous in history not only for the imposing monuments he left behind, but also for his conversion to Jainism and his governance according to principles of non-violence.

namo arahantāṇaṃ

namo siddhāṇaṃ

namo āyariyāṇaṃ

namo uvajjhāyāṇaṃ

namo loe savva-sāhūṇaṃ

eso paṃca-namokkāro savva-pāva-paṇāsaṇo

maṅgalāṇaṃ ca savvesiṃ paḍhamaṃ havai maṅgalam

“Homage to the Arhant! Homage to the Perfect Beings! Homage to the Teachers! Homage to the Preceptors! Homage to all monks in the world! This is the fivefold homage which destroys all evil! It is the first auspicious statement of all auspicious statements!”

1. Introduction: The Formula and Its Fundamental Usages

Today, the formula of homage to the five supreme beings (pañcanamaskāra),1 which symbolises adherence to the doctrine of Jina, is fixed in its function of ensuring protection in this world and deliverance in the hereafter.2 However, as Roth (1974) has shown, not only is this formula not attested in the ancient sources of the Jaina tradition, but its form has undergone a progressive development.3 The first epigraphic evidence of the formula dedicated to the supreme entities is found in the Prakrit cave inscription of Khāravela near Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, dated from around the 1st century BCE. In this iteration of the formula, there are only the first and second of the five supreme entities, which are as follows: namo arahaṃtānam | namo sava-siddhānaṃ || “Homage to the Arhat, homage to all Perfect Beings”; moreover, the second part of the formula after the homage is missing.4 If we turn to literary testimonies among the two main sectarian groups, the complete homage to the five entities is not attested in the literature before around the 3rd century in a Digambara text from Puṣpadanta,5 and it appears even later at unknown dates among the Śvetāmbaras. Indeed, it is found at the beginning of the Vasudevahiṇḍi of Saṅghadāsa (c. 5th c.),6 but not all the manuscripts contain the formula, which may indicate an interpolation added by the copyist.7 Moreover, both versions do not contain the second part of the formula. Indeed, the complete form of the formula is testified to in a canonical text, the Mahāniśīthasūtra (III, 6–10), the date of which is not definite, but it could date back to a period as late as the 7th century.8 As a result, there remains a gap as to the exact date when the formula of homage to the five supreme beings is attested in its complete form. This uncertainty is not resolved by the documented evolution of artistic forms, given the vagueness of dating.9

While the form of the formula has clearly evolved, the effects expected from it appear to have been stable throughout history. Indeed, for the contemporary period, Babb (1998, p. 22) writes that it is hardly possible to exaggerate the importance of the namaskar mantra, which is Jainism’s universal prayer and all-purpose ritual formula. “It is repeated on most ritual occasions, and many Jains believe it to contain an inherent power which, among other things, can protect the utterer in times of danger”. And, from its formulation in the Āvaśyakaniryukti tradition (v. 1010–1011), as Mette (1983, p. 131) has noted, the formula of homage to the supreme beings is presented with the same dual purpose:10

Here is how it is used: the acquisition of the auspicious formula destroys the karman. The fruit is twofold, in this world and in the next. Here are some examples.

In this world, there is wealth, love, health, happiness, fulfilment, and success; in the next world, there is birth into a good family and an appearance in heaven.

What is more, the illustrations of the benefits in this world and the next are clearly shown in the stories of the Āvaśyakacūrṇi, which develop the key words of the stanza of Āvaśyakaniryukti: “by the timely recitation of the invocation formula a young man gains wealth (artha), a woman the love of her husband (kāma), a lay follower being in danger of life gets the help of a killer Vyāntara (ārogya), a thief condemned to death gains rebirth as a king’s son (sukula), another thief rebirth as a respected Yakṣa (svarga)”.11 And in Devendra’s Uttarādhyāyanaṭīkā, composed in 1123, they continue to appear.12

However, the homage to the five supreme beings and the twofold purpose it serves have given rise to a variety of interpretations, both today and in the past. Two examples from the research of twentieth-century scholars will seek to illustrate how they comment on the formula of homage to the five supreme beings in accordance with the principles of Jaina doctrine. Muni (1998, p. 125), for his part, is careful to distinguish the Supreme Entities, which represent a spiritual ideal, from the individual gods of Hinduism:

The Jainas are worshippers not of any individual supreme soul, but of his pure qualities. […] In it [the pañcanamaskāra] there occurs no mention of a proper name of any individual supreme soul; therein an obeisance is offered to the entire class of the individual supreme souls who have destroyed the internal enemies like attachment, aversion etc.

As for U.P. Shah (1987, p. 41), he insists on the spiritual progress made possible by the homage to the five supreme beings and attributes any superhuman power ascribed to the formula to an external influence:

This worship is impersonal. It is the aggregate of qualities of these souls that is remembered and venerated rather than the individuals. The Siddhas or Arhats are souls who are freed from the bondages of matter or karma and as such do not confer any boons to the worshipper. They are indifferent to praise or abuse. By saluting any of the Parameṣṭhins a worshipper suggests to his own mind the qualities of the Arhat, Siddha, Ācārya, Upādhyāya or Sādhu, which the mind would gradually begin to follow and ultimately achieve the stage reached by the Siddhas. Hence the belief in the practice of using the mantra against Śākinīs etc. is all due to Tantric influence. But fundamentally, this is the mantra to lead a person to self-realisation, the Kevala-jñāna, omniscience.

However, as Dundas (1998, pp. 34–35) has pointed out, this restriction runs counter to the proven development of the formula:

“The Pañcanamaskāra, whose prestige most likely derived originally from its perceived auspiciousness, was gradually transformed from a benedictory phrase expressive of the saving power of the Jain religion and the centrality of its ascetic community to a mantra endowed with the power to save in its own right”.

Moreover, it is undoubtedly simplistic to attribute the expansion of the formula’s wonderous power to outside influences, given the lively debates within Jaina groups about the pursuit of worldly benefits and the use of superhuman powers in the medieval period.13 It is therefore worth examining the use of the formula in medieval Jaina literature in a diachronic and synchronic perspective in order to gain a better understanding of the characteristics of the homage to the five supreme beings in all their richness. To this end, I chose the corpus of romance poems composed between the 8th and 12th centuries, which I recently studied (

Table 1. Corpus of the romance-poems (8th–12th c.).

Date	Work	Author	Kula/Gaccha15	Length
8e s.	Samarāiccakahā	Haribhadra	Vidyādharakula	10,000 granthas
779	Kuvalayamālā	Uddyotana	Candrakula	10,000 granthas
x16	Jambucaria	Guṇapāla	Nāillakula	4000 granthas
868	Cauppannamahā°	Śīlāṅka	Nivṛttikula	10,000 granthas
x17	Bhuvaṇasuṃdarī	Vijayasiṃha	Nāillakula	10,350 granthas
1082	Mahāvīracaria	Devabhadra18	Candrakula	12,025 granthas
1082	Maṇoramā	Vardhamāna	Candrakula/Khar.	15,000 granthas
1104	Saṃtiṇāhacaria	Devacandra	Pūrṇatallagaccha	12,100 granthas
1104	Jugāijiṇiṃdacaria	Vardhamāna	Candrakula/Khar.	11,000 granthas
1105	Puhaicaṃdacaria	Śāntisūri	Candrakula	7500 granthas
1112	Pāsaṇāhacaria	Devabhadra	Candrakula	9000 granthas

).14

To these works, I added the Treasury of Tales (Kahārayaṇakosa), composed by the monk Devabhadra in 1101, in addition to his two romance poems, because it contains a whole section devoted to the formula of homage to the five supreme beings.19 In this way, since most of these works are dated, it will be possible to determine whether there are diachronic changes in the use of the formula with the five supreme beings and what the differences are between monks living in the same century.

2. The Formula in the 8th Century Romance Poems

The first of the dated romance poems, Kuvalayamālā, was composed by Uddyotana of the Candrakula in 779, a century after the canonical and post-canonical literature, which attests to the full form of the formula and the effects to be expected from it. In fact, we do not find the formula in the form of an actual mantra, but a long prayer addressed to each of the five supreme beings testifies to the existence of the full homage (277.7–279. 11). The monk Mahāratha thus pays homage to the Tīrthaṅkara (16 verses), the perfect beings (siddha, 13 verses), the masters (ācārya, 17 verses), the preceptors (upādhyāya, 9 verses), and the monks (sādhu, 11 verses). Moreover, even though Uddyotana does not use the concise formulation of the second part of the formula as we know it today, he shows that he is familiar with it by devoting 13 verses (279.12–24) to the extraordinary character of the homage to the five supreme entities, which both protects against all dangers and destroys all sins:20

This is beyond hope! I have received a gift that I have never received before! The formula removes all the great fears! It is sensational! It is the most extraordinary of wonders!

(279.18)

We would rather see the fire turn cold, the celestial river flow against the current, than have the formula of worshipping Jina fail to bring deliverance.

(279.20)

Thus, the Kuvalayamālā of Uddyotana over the Mahānisīhasutta has the advantage of providing a precise date by which the complete formula existed among the Śvetāmbaras.

As in the stories of the Āvaśyakacūrṇi, the passages in the Kuvalayamālā attest to the spiritual and worldly benefits conferred by pronouncing the homage to the five supreme beings. Thus, the utterance of the formula is part of a ritual which enables the monk Mahāratha to attain deliverance at the end of his life (277.7–280.11).21 In fact, he confessed to the Master, repented of all his sins, emaciated his body by the ultimate fast that frees a soul from the last hindering karman22, and then devotes himself entirely to the purifying formula of homage to the five supreme beings (v. 279.1):23

I pay homage to the monks in three ways with this formula: in this way, I will be able to chase away in an instant the sum of sins that have bound me to tens of thousands of existences.

(279.1)

In this way, he attains a level of purity unparalleled on the scale of the destruction of karman and then deliverance. For a soul less advanced on the path of spiritual progress, concentration on paying homage to the five supreme beings ensures a divine state. After uttering the formula at the end of his life, the merchant Lobhadeva (Kuvalayamālā 94.2–3) becomes a god in Saudharma Heaven:24

Suddenly clairvoyance manifested itself in him. He then saw what had happened]. Upset, he had adopted the wandering life. And he had died having concentrated his mind on the formula of homage to the five supreme entities. He also knew that he had had the great happiness of drying up karmic matter through ordination and that he owed it to the fruit of homage to the five supreme beings to have obtained the divine condition.25

Among the worldly benefits, protection from evil is illustrated by the story of the adventures of King Darpaparigha, who is indirectly saved from a certain death by uttering the formula (see below), and the acquisition of wealth (artha) based on the episode in which Prince Kuvalayacandra produces the gold that the false-believing alchemists have failed to produce (see below).

Moreover, Uddyotana’s Kuvalayamālā and the other eighth-century romance poem, the Samarāiccakahā composed by Haribhadra supposedly from the Vidyādharakula, highlight characteristics that persist among medieval romance poem writers and explain the central role that the formula continues to play in Jainism. Firstly, the formula of homage seems capable of synthesising the doctrine of Jainism and is used by monks as an elementary catechism and rite of entry into the Jain community. For example, in the Samarāiccakahā (734.3–10), monks teach laymen the formula of homage to the five supreme beings until they are ready to become monks:26

You were given the formula of homage to the five supreme beings which ensures the eternal happiness of supreme bliss. And you received it while your faces bended under the weight of devotion.27

The teaching of the formula of homage to the five supreme beings offered by a monk to two Śabaras is clearly a means of committing a person to the lay Jaina path, as it is accompanied by a vow not to commit any violent act:28

One day every fortnight, in a secluded place, you must invoke the formula of homage, avoiding any reprehensible aggression. On that day, even if someone is thinking of taking your life or has done so, you must forgive them.

Secondly, the homage to the five supreme beings serves as a marker of identity, as it enables the recognition of two co-religionists. Indeed, as soon as King Darpaparigha uttered it, Prince Kuvalayacandra expressed his remorse at having wanted to kill a co-religionist:29

When Kuvalayacandra saw such an event and heard the formula of homage to the Five Supreme Beings, he immediately ran towards him in confusion. Thinking that he was a co-religionist, he embraced him and said, ‘Don’t be rash, don’t be rash!

No, no, my good man, don’t make such a difficult decision to keep: practices like renunciation are for monks without attachments.

(137.10)

Forgive my offence! Go on, forgive a co-religionist who clings to you for having struck you before!

(137.11)30

While the romance poems share the dual purpose of the formula attested in canonical literature and the functions of a rite of entry into the Jaina community and of recognition between co-religionists, they do not all interpret the omnipotence of homage to the five supreme beings in the same way, and, over the centuries, miraculous power occupies an increasingly important place. In fact, in the 8th century, in Kuvalayamālā, even the use of the formula to secure worldly benefits does not leave the religious framework, as two passages show. For example, in the episode about the alchemists, Uddyotana is careful to distinguish homage to the five supreme beings from a magical formula. In fact, to begin with, the prince pronounces the formula when he recognises the peculiarity of the flame that allows the metal to be transformed into gold, but the magical role is transferred to another formula involving the siddha, known in other religious traditions to be endowed with miraculous powers and knowledge of alchemical treatises, of which Joṇīpāhuḍa is seen as the first representative:31

Shortly after, the prince recognising the special nature of the flame appealed to his courage, paid homage to the excellent Jina, friends of the whole universe, prostrated himself before the perfect beings, took the powder to be incorporated and consecrated it with this magic science: ‘Homage to the perfect beings! Homage to those who have succeeded thanks to Joṇīpāhuḍa! While reciting this formula, he poured the powder into the crucible, which burst into flames with a crackling sound. Then the crucible was removed, the immersion was made, and a little later we looked: there was gold like a cluster of lightning.

Secondly, under the guise of giving the alchemists the formula, like a mantra, for making gold, thanks to the attraction that the ambiguity of the term siddha can create in their minds,32 Kuvalayacandra converted them to Jainism:33

They cried out: ‘Give us the magic formula and tell us the perfect teaching of your god! The prince said: ‘There is in this world a venerable god above all others, endowed with omniscience, who has revealed all that is in the Jonīpāhuḍa. It is therefore appropriate to pay homage to him! The magic formula is: Homage to the Arhant! Homage to all perfect beings!’

Similarly, the episode in which King Darpaparigha fights Prince Kuvalayacandra (136.8–137.32) shows that the miraculous effects of paying homage to the five supreme beings are due to its religious functions and not to any miraculous power.34 On the one hand, King Darpaparigha stopped fighting because he remembered the principles of non-violence of Jainism, regretted his action, and then vowed to take up a wandering life if he could be saved:35

Misfortune, misfortune! Ah, the evil deed! Although I knew the Dharma of Jina, with my mind led astray by the desire for sense objects, I acted despicably.

(136.30)

Just think, my heart, of the kind of behaviour that befits who you are, and how, knowing this, you committed this kind of sin like a misguided being.

(137.1)

Under such conditions, if I could somehow escape from this man, I would leave everything and take up the wandering life’.

(137.3)

In this context, he pays homage to the five supreme beings, not to save his life, but as a prayer to purify his soul should he die:36

And with a deft movement like that of an eel, he released himself. Then, a little less than a hundred hasta away, he dropped his knife and stood with his arms hanging down, motionless, in the position of abandoning his body. Just imagine:

Having thrown his merciless knife to the ground, he took up the posture of renunciation of the body, with his arms hanging down.

(137.6)

Then, when self-control took shape, concentrating on the formula of homage to the five Supreme Beings and indifferent to friends and enemies alike, he adopted virtuous meditation.

(137.7)

On the other hand, he did not owe his life to the miraculous power of the formula, but to the fact that it made him recognisable to a co-religionist.

3. The Developments in the Romance Poems of the 10th Century

The end of the first millennium seems to mark a turning point, both in the importance of the formula and in the extension of the powers attributed to it, as can be seen from the many examples that appear in the Bhuvaṇasuṃdarī composed by Vijayasiṃha of the Nāillakula towards the end of the 10th century.37 Some of the occurrences show, as in the Kuvalayamālā, that the use of the formula invites two adversaries to recognise each other as co-religionists:38

As he was saying this, the prince threw him to the ground. Then the Vidyādhara Aśoka, thinking that he was going to die, began to utter ‘Homage to the Jina’. When the prince heard this, he lamented, ‘Ah! Ah! I am dead because I am inclined to do wrong! Aśoka is a co-religionist. How could I want to kill him?

Just as the prince, who was holding him by one foot, was about to strike him with the cutlass with his other hand, (the Vidyādhara Śekhara) uttered ‘Homage to Jina’. Then he realised what it was: Śekhara with a still heart, who had invoked homage to Jina, was a co-religionist, and he uttered the formula of repentance, ‘I have done wrong’.

However, in the combat context in which the use of the homage to the five supreme beings appears, several variations suggest a gradual integration of wondrous virtues that make the formula resemble the mantras of other religious systems. First of all, in the continuation of the religious virtue of homage, the monk insists on the firmness that pronouncing the formula gives to the hero through the adjectives that describe him (a calm heart, untroubled) or the name that characterises him (to be magnanimous):39

These other thoughts will suffice. I will only think of the formula of homage (to the Five Supreme Beings). It is an incomparable boat on the ocean of existences and a friend to the three worlds. At this thought, with a calm heart, he was carried far away by the magical science of this Vidyādhara, without realising the vastness of the earth and the ocean. Then he saw the sky, thirty-five yojanas high, obscured by smoke, making it impossible to distinguish the world of souls, but this magnanimous being was not troubled.

There is also a new emphasis on the marvels that occur after the formula is invoked, as demonstrated in the following passage of the Bhuvaṇasuṃdarī:40

But what is the point of all this fear? The ocean shore is a refuge. I am going to meditate on the formula of homage to the 5 Supreme Beings, which is particularly formidable.

When he thinks of the excellent mantra with excellent meanings and excellent letters, he immediately sees the trees and rocks falling near him.

A shower of flowers from many trees moved by the wind falls from the sky on the prince, like Indra’s banner announcing victory over a defeated enemy.

The falling mountains, which were constantly filling the sky with dense dust and trying to reach the prince like Indra’s thunderbolt, disintegrated in an instant.

Thus, the utterance of the formula has a powerful effect on the natural elements that his enemy wanted to use: rocks fall beside the prince without harming him mountains crumble without reaching him. In these elements, too, we can see the expected protection against danger, as illustrated in the stories of the Āvaśyakacūrṇi. But a change in usage is evident in the qualification of the tribute formula, which is no longer merely ‘protective against fears and dangers’ but ‘particularly fearsome’ and therefore a deterrent compared to other less effective sciences. For example, this is evident in the passage pitting a goddess against the prince (Bhuvaṇasuṃdarī v. 5764–5767):41

With a concentrated mind and according to the rule taught by my master, I invoke the excellent mantra, which is the formula of homage to the five Supreme Beings.

In all three worlds, there is nothing more successful than the excellent mantra. What is uneven becomes even, what is even becomes uneven, thanks to this mantra.

Meanwhile, as soon as the mantra was invoked, the prince became unable to be assaulted by the Vyantarī.

Then, the goddess took the pike with her two hands and struck Vīra(sena) with fear, for her power had been destroyed by the power of the formula of homage to the five supreme beings.

Not only is the homage to the five supreme beings more powerful than that of the Vyantarī who is trying to kill him, but it is accompanied on several occasions by the term mantra, which clearly evokes extraordinary powers.42 While in the Kuvalayamālā43 magical practices are very limited (we find little more than the horse that moves through the air and the sword and magic pill that enable Prince Vajragupta to triumph over an evil Vidyādhara) and in the Samarāiccakahā44 they are the prerogative of miraculous objects or extraordinary sciences, in the Bhuvaṇasuṃdarī, they are also associated with the formula of homage to the five supreme beings, which thus enters into competition with the formulas used by other religious beliefs, as is explicit in the following passage (v. 5542–5543):45

The prince thought, “Will not this master yogin win with the accomplishments of a mantra? But I am going astray! I am going to invoke the formula of worshipping the sovereign Jina’.

Indeed, there is no doubt about it: as soon as you invoke the formula of homage to the Five Supreme Beings into your heart, it defeats the effectiveness of the mantras and tantras of the evil magic sciences.

So the prince chanted the formula of homage to the Five Supreme Beings with concentration and immediately overcame the master yogin, whose power of mantra and tantra was destroyed”.

In conclusion, in the Bhuvaṇasuṃdarī, the uses of homage to the five supreme entities have clearly incorporated a superhuman function that puts the devotee in a position to compete with other Indian religions. The difference, however, is that according to the principles of Jainism, the formula counteracts and drives away, but does not kill, as other magical formulae do. Does this development correspond to an evolution over time or to a different sectarian orientation? To clarify this point, we will now examine the various uses of the formula of homage to the five supreme beings in the romance poems of the 11th and 12th centuries.

4. Further Changes in the 11th and 12th Centuries

Between the 11th and 12th centuries, the exaltation of the wondrous powers of the formula of homage to the five supreme beings continued to grow. Vardhamāna and Devabhadra each devote a lengthy passage to the dangers the formula can ward off:46

For them, the formula of homage to the Five Supreme Beings is a refuge when there is danger in the water or on dry land, on the mountain or on the plain, or elsewhere, in hostile circumstances.

In situations of subjugation, defeat in battle, magical paralysis, unrest in the city, paralysis, etc., only recourse to the formula of homage to the five Supreme Beings is effective.

If a being, even if only in thought, with concentration, pronounces one by one the syllables contained in the formula of homage to the five Supreme Beings to purify numerous, very numerous or very numerous sins, he reduces all fears to nothing, just as the sun destroys the mass of darkness or the Cintāmaṇi jewel dispels poverty.

(55b, v. 4–5)

The fire does not spread, the king of the beasts does not rage, even when he is very angry, the snake does not approach, the rutting elephant does not trample.

(55b, v. 6)

Even an enemy does not hinder him, even a troop of Bhūta and Śākinī does not tear him to pieces, a thief does not rob him, a flood of water does not wash him away.

(55b, v. 7)

Other variations suggest divisions between monastic groups inside the Candrakula that cannot be reduced to binary oppositions between temple dwellers and reforming monks and also exist between various groups of reforming monks, as is the case for Devacandra, a member of the Pūrṇatallagaccha, and Vardhamāna, a member of the Candrakula, included in the list of the masters of the Kharataragaccha.47 A primary example of differentiation is the way in which the authors magnify the power of the formula. Vardhamāna, for example, likes to evoke the divine or universal sovereign status conferred by the proclamation of homage to the five supreme beings:48

He has 64,000 charming wives, beginning with the beauty of all their limbs,

thirty-two thousand vassals who shine with majesty

He is insurpassable with all his 96 koṭi of villages like excellent cities and his 72 lakh of wonderful cities resembling those of the divine universe.

He has many residences in hamlets, villages, towns, municipalities in large numbers, he has a confidence given to him by the many beautiful chariots that can be seen.

He has an army of foot soldiers whose pride is not small, ready to crush the enemy army.

He has many fearsome elephants whose temples run (with serous fluid).

He has a troop of horses, swift as the spirit or the wind, striking the earth with their lively hooves; he is surrounded by the protection of 16,000 Yakṣas.

He obtains all things in which power is manifested, the nine treasures, the fourteen jewels,

He obtains supremacy in the universe over the six parts of Bharata’s country.

In addition to accumulating the seductive details of the state of universal sovereignty and the divine state, which he emphasises are far from describing the miraculous power of the formula’s effects, Vardhamāna draws the admiration of his audience by using numerous compounds that accentuate the marvellous (a body of the splendour of a young sun, the colour of natural gold heated to white, feet sparkling with a host of rays coming from the crowns of the innumerable gods who prostrate before him).

On the other hand, while extolling the power of the formula that fills a gourd with elixir (Saṃtiṇāhacaria v. 6290–6293), Devacandra does not give a eulogy in which he insists on the effects of the formula. Rather, he gives a prayer to the five supreme beings whose qualities he exalts. While he thus follows in the tradition of Uddyotana, who presents a long eulogy of the five supreme beings and the effects of the worship dedicated to them,49 he differs in the way he celebrates them. Indeed, the celebration of the formula in the Kuvalayamālā appears essentially as a doctrinal statement with all the subdivisions that one needs to know about each of the Supreme Beings. For example, Uddyotana enumerates the Arhants of the past, present, and future born in all the epochs of the ascending and descending cosmic periods (277.12), the places where they lived (the Bharata, the Aparavideha, the Pūrvavideha, the Airāvata, the Puṣkarārdha, and the Dhātakīkhaṇḍa: 277. 13), and the different kinds according to their different colours (black, gold, pearl, or ruby: 277.19), according to whether they were married or not (279.20), as given in the tradition of the Samavāyaṃga (157–158) and the Āvaśyakanirukti (v. 376-377).50 Similarly, for the Siddhas, he mentions those of the past, present, and future (277.27), as well as the different kinds, according to whether they attained perfection alone or in company (277.28), by being monks or householders (277.29), by being women, men, or eunuchs (277.30), in different positions, at different times of the day, in different places, and at different stages of life (277.277.30–278.1).51 On the other hand, Devacandra no longer gives a classification, but gives a more personal character to the Supreme Beings by putting more emphasis on the incomparable qualities of the Supreme Beings, as indicated below:

Arhat52

Please invoke the Arhants now: they will not be born here, because the seeds for rebirth, the passions, love, etc. have been burnt up; they are boats on the ocean of the cycle of existences;

(6324)

Please invoke the Arhants now: they deserve the signs of respect, and their homage produces great marvels, they are the caravan leaders leading people safely across the forest of the circle of existences!

(6325)

Now please invoke the Arhants: with the excellent club of their heroism, they overcome the great enemies, misguidance and other passions, which are terrible obstacles in the cycle of existences!

(6326)

Now please invoke the Arhants for whom there is nothing hidden, like the deep interior of mountain caves on account of their best omniscience.

(6327)

Now please invoke the Arhants entirely victorious for whom there is no place hidden inside that contains old age or other evils.

(6328)

Please invoke the Arhants now! They remain nowhere in the cycle of transmigration, they who have eliminated all affection!

(6329)

Please invoke the Arhants now! They are the friends of beings! They are an excellent refuge! They have supernatural knowledge! They are celebrated for the salvation in the three worlds.

(6330)

Please invoke the Arhants now! They are the first of the supreme beings, they have a great fortune! They produce (the happiness of) heaven and supreme emancipation.

(6331)

In short, paying homage to these beings is always a source of happiness. It is the first great auspicious formula for all beings.

(6332)

Siddha53

Now summon the perfect beings! With the fire of meditation, it is said, they produced the highest bliss, having blown away the fuel of karman in its entirety.

(6333)

Now summon the perfect beings! Having completely destroyed the karmic matter that causes dwelling in the cycle of existences, they have reached the city of ultimate perfection.

(6334)

Now invoke the perfect beings! They have no form, smell, taste, touch or speech; they are able to save the beings of the three worlds!

(6335)

Now summon the perfect beings! They have no colour, neither black, nor blue, nor white, nor yellow, nor red; they have no smell, neither good nor bad!

(6336)

Now summon the perfect beings! They are not sensitive to any taste, neither pungent nor bitter nor astringent nor sour nor sweet!

(6337)

Now invoke the perfect beings! They have no form, neither heavy nor light, neither delicate nor coarse, neither rough nor graceful, neither cold nor hot.

(6338)

Now invoke the perfect beings! They have attained the place of endless and faultless supreme bliss, where the pleasant south breeze of the perfect happiness blows; they stand at the summit of the three worlds.

(6339)

Now summon the perfect beings! They know neither old age nor death, they are always insensitive to hunger, thirst and other needs, they receive the worship of the beings in the three worlds.

(6340)

Now summon the perfect beings! They have entered the Īṣatprāgbhāra and are still in the empyrean, they have perfect intuition and knowledge.

(6341)

In short, they always rank second among the supreme beings. They are the second most important auspicious formula for all souls!

(6342)

The change in nature between exposition and prayer is also confirmed by the litany of the final pada, which is identical for each of the five supreme beings: ‘May you now invoke the Arhant’ and ‘May you now invoke the Perfect Beings’. It is also characterised by the regular structure of eight verses dedicated to each of them, whereas in the Kuvalayamālā, the number of verses dedicated each time varies: Arhant (16 verses), Siddha (13 verses), Ācārya (17 verses), Upādhyāya (9 verses), and Sādhu (11 verses). Finally, while Uddyotana emphasises the self-control that is required for the utterance of the homage to be effective (it is difficult to acquire (279.19), so one must put one’s whole being and zeal into conciliating it (279.23–24)), Devacandra emphasises the devotion that the devotee must show when uttering the homage: he must let his body tremble under the effect of devotion (v. 6367 bhatti-vasullasiya-bahala-romaṃco).

A second example of differentiation is the context in which the formula of homage to the five supreme beings is presented. This reveals another grouping of authors and allows a finer differentiation of the use of homage to the five supreme beings. In Devacandra’s and Vardhamāna’s works, the gift of the formula appears in stories illustrating, for the former, the violation to be avoided of the fifth minor vow (Saṃtiṇāhacaria v. 6206–6207) and, for the latter, the second vow of coefficience (Manoramā 282.12–19). Since both vows serve the purpose of restricting possessions, while singing the praises of this omnipotent formula, the monk writers thus invite us not to desire extraordinary worldly benefits but to seek more spiritual benefits,54 as the different procedures they use for this purpose show. Vardhamāna, for his part, skilfully uses metaphorical language to show that the real goal is not worldly benefit but the soul’s progress towards deliverance:55

The formula of homage to the Five Supreme Beings ensures the success of all work done during the period in which the mantra is invoked, for those who have begun to invoke it beforehand.

The formula of worshipping the Five Supreme Beings must always be remembered correctly and on all occasions if we wish to obtain all success and good fortune.

It is said that we must eagerly recall the excellent mantra at various times: when we wake up, when we fall asleep, when we sneeze, when we stop, when we start, when we stumble, when we fall.

Once you have obtained the formula of worshipping the Five Supreme Beings through merit chained to merit, you are sure to block the hell and animal fates.

My beloved, if your work is to obtain a series of fortunate events in this way, don’t be lax in practising the worship of the Five Supreme Beings, which is a boat that enables you to cross the ocean of existence.

Although Vardhamāna and Devacandra include homage to the five supreme beings in stories illustrating vows with similar aims, they do not have the same objectives. Vardhamāna teaches the benefits of the formula taught by a monk to increase Jaina faith at any time in the devotee’s life. Devacandra, on the other hand, places the tribute formula within the religious framework of confession and repentance at the precise moment of approaching death, as it appears in the work of Uddyotana. He also emphasises mutual help between laymen, as the hero Sulasa teaches his friend Jinaśekhara. Finally, he emphasises the power of the syllables of the formula and the purifying effect of devotion, expressed in prayer to extraordinary beings whose qualities are reflected to the devotee through a kind of transfer of merit, as we see developing in the medieval period.56

Another long passage devoted to the formula of homage to the five supreme entities is developed in the Kathāratnakośa composed by Devabhadra, also a member of the Candrakula, but probably a temple dweller. Therein, the intention is not to illustrate the limitation of worldly goods, but to magnify the firmness of right faith and the propagation of the Jaina doctrine (47–55), as well as temples and homage to statues (67–90). Unlike Vardhamāna, for whom the formula serves to give right faith, for Devabhadra, right faith must first be purified before it can be obtained. In this, he agrees with Uddyotana in the Kuvalayamālā: the formula certainly gives the best of fruits, but it is difficult to acquire (279.19), and if one does not put one’s whole being into it once one has obtained it, it will not give any fruit (279.23), so one must put one’s whole being into it to conciliate it and attain deliverance (279.24).57 Whereas in Uddyotana’s work the conciliation of the formula seems to be achieved by pure meditation, without any mention of the details of the ritual, there is a passage in Devabhadra’s work which evokes the way in which a faithful Jaina must merit the receipt of the formula with the approval of a master and within the ritual framework of a temple:58

Recognising the adequacy of the king, the monk taught from the excellent doctrine handed down by those who have reached the other shore, the excellent mantra of homage to the Five Supreme Beings, which gives the desired success, as one takes sandalwood from Mount Malaya, the wishing tree from Nandana Park, ambrosia from the ocean,

O King, you alone must show unwavering steadfastness in the right faith. Otherwise, in the same way as a sugarcane does not bear fruit, a ritual act will have no success,

Moreover, in the doctrine, this piece of revealed scripture is chanted with the formula of homage to the five Supreme Beings.59 The pronunciation of the first of the divine syllables taught is like the syllable ôm.

This is uttered in the Jina Temple after a benediction. After fasting, the five monosyllables must be uttered first.

Then eight meals of boiled rice are eaten; then the formula of homage to the Five Supreme Beings is read; then, after three fasts, permission is obtained to utter it.

There are nine letters in the part dedicated to monks, five letters in the part dedicated to perfect beings, and seven letters in the part dedicated to Arhants (masters and teachers).

The five parts dedicated to the Arhants, etc., are the essential components of the formula of homage to the five Supreme Beings; in addition, it is completed by the part beginning with eso paṇca ‘this formula of homage to the five Supreme Beings’, etc. This part which completes the formula consists of thirty-three syllables. And by uttering these thirty-three syllables, we get the formula of worship with 68 syllables.

The formula is recited in this way according to the rule, looking at the fragrant white flowers and murmuring it with all your being.

The part devoted to the Tīrthaṅkaras, the universal rulers and the principal disciples already takes you across the universe, so what more can be said about the other things that are easy to acquire?

One must always meditate in front of the five supreme entities, beginning with the mental appropriation of the Arhants in the middle, then the Siddhas and the others, going from left to right.

Whoever recites the formula of homage to the five Supreme Beings nine times in front of the right number of statues (=12), the Piśācas and other evil beings may not play tricks on him.

Oh, I forgot. The omniscient ones know the whole power of the mantra, but, O King, I have taught you a small part of it.

In this passage, the monk writer not only emphasises the asceticism required with the fasts that precede the acquisition of the doctrine, but he also shows that the conciliation of the formula contains elements of a tantric initiation ritual.60 The tantricisation of the ritual associated with the acquisition of the formula of homage to the five supreme beings is suggested by various words borrowed from the tantric vocabulary, such as jāpa ‘whisper’, bīja ‘seed’, and vinyāsa ‘mental appropriation’.61 Special attention is then given to the syllables that make up the mantra of worship to the five supreme beings. Finally, offerings are made, and meditation is performed on a ritual object in which the Supreme Beings have a very specific place.62 The positions mentioned are reminiscent of the siddhacakra, the use of which developed in medieval Jainism, and of which two configurations seem to have been possible: one with the syllable ôm in the centre and the five supreme beings in the outer circle from left to right, and another with the Jina in the centre of the inner circle and the other four supreme beings in the outer circle from left to right.63

5. Conclusions

In conclusion, while an examination of the use of the formula of homage to the five supreme beings shows that certain features have been stable throughout history, it also reveals variations that suggest developments and different monastic attitudes. In the 11th and 12th centuries, the formula was used for proselytising purposes by Devabhadra, Vardhamāna, and Devacandra, but it is possible to identify features that make each of them unique. Devacandra gives pride of place to piety and lay interaction, while Vardhamāna emphasises the teaching of the formula as an instrument of conversion and consolidation of the Jaina faith. As for Devabhadra, he focuses on the purity of right faith and the gift of the formula by a monk to a layman through a ritual of meditation and asceticism marked by tantricisation in the same way as the sūrimantra between monks ensuring the continuity of a monastic lineage.64 These differences between the uses of the formula not only reveal nuances of usage behind an apparently fixed character, but also confirm the characteristics of the authors identified on the basis of other criteria.65 It is not possible to establish binary oppositions between monastic groupings, and we do not have the features expected from traditional data on temple monks and itinerant reformer monks. Indeed, orthodox reformer monks such as Vardhamāna in the future Kharataragaccha movement have no aversion to the usage of supernatural powers, and temple monks such as Devabhadra show an attachment to the practice of asceticism. Finally, the way in which the authors of the three romance poems present the context and aims of the formula of homage to the five supreme entities suggests that a shift from elitist (Devabhadra) to open proselytism (Vardhamāna and Devacandra) may have been at work in the profound monastic transformations that existed at the end of the first millennium.