Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing

Funerary rituals have held an ambiguous position in the history of the Jains with doctrinal literature refuting their efficacy, while other evidence testifies to their widespread performance. On the critical side, Jain theorists argue that the transition from death into the next stage, either a new life or liberation, is instant, and that no fruits of an action by one person can benefit another person. At least as important are the socially oriented critiques against specifically Hindu forms of funerals, directed against the dominance of Brahmanical groups. This chapter focuses on early modern Jain views regarding rituals at death, in particular on how the Hindu śrāddha ritual has been narrated in the Old Hindi Dharmaparīkṣā (‘Examination of Religion’) by the Digambara Jain Manohardās (seventeenth century). This ritual at the conclusion of the funerary rites involves the offering of gifts and food to the ancestors and priests so that it may benefit the deceased into his next life, as well as the donor. The narrative argument by Manohardās is innovative in the way it embeds its critique into an episode of a merchant’s life as well as an origination story of śrāddha about a gander and a crow that is not found elsewhere. In order to evaluate Manohardās’ depiction of the Hindu ritual, the chapter engages with other discussions of śrāddha, most importantly Somasena’s contemporary Traivarṇikācāra (Dundas 2011). It is suggested that Manohardās’ early modern narrative about ancestral ritual is not just a continuation of a time-honoured topic, but instead a reframed engagement with the multireligious past, as well as the early modern lay-focused present.