more devout observe twelve days in every month as days of abstinence, but the less strict content themselves with fasting more or less strictly on five days.
Conse-
cration of
an idol. Besides the regularly recurring holy days of the year, there are special occasions of rejoicing, such as Añjanaśalākā (the consecration of a new idol), which is celebrated with great pomp, but which rarely occurs now owing to the enormous expense it entails on the donor of the idol. In the case of a Śvetāmbara idol, mantras must be repeated, the glass eyes inserted, and the statue anointed with saffron, before the idol is regarded as sacred, but the expense lies in the payment, not so much for this consecration, as for the feasting and processions which accompany it.
The
Bathing
of Goma-
teśvara Another rare act of Jaina worship is the bathing of colossal figures such as that of Gomateśvara at Śrāvana Belgolā, which takes place every twenty-five years. The actual bathing is not unlike the ordinary Jaḷa puja, and the privilege of pouring cups of curd, milk and melted butter over the idol is put up to auction.
Oḷi. There is one day, Oḷi or Āmbela, which is the fast par excellence of Jaina women. It occurs eight days before Ċaitrī punema, and all women who long for a happy wedded life (and every woman in India marries) fast from specially nice food for twenty-four hours, remembering that a princess once won health for her royal husband who was a leper by fasting and worshipping the saint wheel on this day.
Hindu
festivals. The ever-present influence of Hinduism is perhaps felt even more by Jaina women than by Jaina men, and it is they who insist on keeping the Hindu festival of Śītalāsātama, the festival of the goddess of small-pox, and the two feasts of Virapasalī, when brothers give presents to their sisters and the sisters bless them, and of Bhāībīja, when the sisters ask their brothers to their houses. Often also girls and women fast on the Hindu holy days of Bolachotha and Molākata. It is much to be regretted that many Jaina men and women, despite all the efforts of the reformers, still
