Ritual in other religious communities
Some Jains, especially the Murti Pujak Jains (of the S ́veta ̄mbara sect), have
an active ritual life not unlike that of their Hindu counterparts. Whether in
pu ̄ja ̄rooms at home, or in the often elaborate temples to which lay Jains
contribute generously, any number of symbolic representatives can be found
- icons of tı ̄rthan.karas, representatives of living saints as well as of certain
Hindu deities. Lay Jains will perform pu ̄ja ̄at any or all of the representations.
Pu ̄ja ̄will usually start with libations of water, milk, and/or other substances;
the icons may be dabbed with sandalwood paste and offered flowers. Prayers
will be recited. Offerings, for example, of rice, fruit, or coins may be placed
before the icon.A ̄rati(the waving of an oil lamp before the icon) will occur;
the ritual usually concludes with a period of prayer and meditation.
The performance of pu ̄ja ̄sin Jainism differs from that in Hinduism in
several respects. The Jain worshiper does not expect the worshiped figures
to help her – each Jain is obliged to work out her own liberation and think
of the object of her devotion as a means of meditation, representative of a
state of being worthy to be emulated. Further, each Jain layperson will
perform the pu ̄ja ̄on his/her own at one’s own speed and depend on temple
“servants” (known as pu ̄ja ̄ris) merely for support or instruction, whereas, in
Hindu worship, the pu ̄ja ̄ri(priest) performs the rituals on behalf of the
devotee who often expects the deity to respond to his requests.^14
Devout Muslims also maintain an active ritual life. The high point of the
week is Friday noon, when the faithful gather at a mosque for midday
prayers. Prayers (nama ̄z) will also be led by the elder at the local mosque five
times a day as prescribed by the Qu‘ra ̄n. Women are not permitted into
many mosques, but many engage in the nama ̄zat home, often together with
neighboring women. Unlike the Hindu temple, the mosque is barren of any
representations of Alla ̄h, though quotations from the Qu‘ra ̄n are often
inscribed on the inner and outer walls. The mosque is generally oriented in
such a way that prayers can be done facing Mecca, the birthplace of Islam
and the seat of the sacred Ka‘bastone.
Thus far we have noted a number of ways by which people express their
religious orientations through ritual and performance. Ritual does many
things at once. With their bodies and through their senses, people act out
in ritual something of who they understand themselves to be. Sometimes
the ritual is orthoprax, attempting to reconstruct a sense of rootedness
and antiquity. Sometimes the ritual is a hybridization – mingling of folk and
classical and of various regional and family “traditions.” Ritual selectively
reappropriates and re-presents perceptions of the past even as it embodies
elements of the present. Local spaces and shrines may be linked to pan-Hindu
or classical ones. Festivals and pilgrimages often have a way of bringing
Religion in Contemporary India 209