Jain temples (basadis) of Karnataka are opening doors for devotees from all communities and that’s a good thing, if the people visiting are willing to learn more about Jain deities and perhaps connect to them. However, I believe that there must be a difference between spaces designated for tourism and ones for devotion. If you are visiting a Jain temple as a devotee, please make a small effort to know what you’re visiting and how you are expected to behave there. I mean, you would expect the same from devotees visiting your place of worship, wouldn’t you?
I write this because recently at Humcha Jain Basadi, which is a prominent Jain pilgrimage in Karnataka, a lady just asked my sister while we were seated in the Padmavathi Devi temple – “How is Buddha in the temple beside connected to this Devi?”
Facepalm moment. My sister patiently told the woman that the deity in the temple beside was not Buddha, but Parshwanatha Swamy and the one in front of her was Padmavathi Devi, a Yakshi. The lady was there with her large family who apparently had no idea where they were.
The Jain community of the country keeps to itself and interferes in no one’s business, but the minor sect deserves at least as much respect from everyone. Everyone wants to protect the sanctity of their places of worship but ours are forcefully being turned into tourist spots. I believe everyone remembers how we had to fight like our lives depended on it to protect Sammedh Giri, THE most important Jain pilgrimage, from being turned into one.
I’m not one to be offended by simple things but this has happened so many times. There’s a blatant disregard towards Jain temples/rituals/deities/food habits that sometimes makes us feel hurt and helpless. Instances of Jain ascetics being attacked on streets when they were nothing but minding their own businesses are hurtful to us. We don’t ask for much – hell, we don’t even get minority status despite being minority and we don’t fight – but just a little reverence would be nice.
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