24 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8o 



Mahavira ^ in residence. The same ceiya is called a park {ujjdna) in 

 Vipaka Sutra, lect. i, § 2, and elsewhere a ceiya of the Nala clan. 

 As Mahavira was a son of the chief of this Ksattriya clan, Hoernle 

 assumes that the ceiya must have heen sacred to the previous Jina 

 Parsvanatha. But even if we regard this Jina as historical, there 

 could have existed no Jaina cult {pfijd) in the time of Mahavira, and 

 it is much more likely that this was a Jakkha shrine or park. When, 

 further, the son of a pious householder of Vaniyagama takes the vows 

 of a lay adherent, and renounces willing offerings to " the Devas, or 

 objects of reverence to a heterodox community," it is probable that 

 Jakkha ceiyas are included. But here the commentory cites ceiya as 

 " idol," and mentions Virabhadra and Mahakala. 



5. WORSHIP (PUJA) IN YAKSA SHRINES 



Offerings to Yaksas, with a long list of other beings, are referred to 

 in several Grhya Sutras as being made at the close of Vedic studies ; 

 the Sahkhayaim Sraiita Sutra, I, 11, 6, mentions Manibhadra. The 

 Asvalayana Grhya Sutra, I, 12, describes what is called a caitya- 

 ofifering (vandana) by householders. Hillebrandt,' followed by Keith, 

 assumes that caityas erected as funeral monuments to teachers and 

 prophets are intended, but it is much more likely that the reference is 

 in the main to Yaksa caityas. 



The Mahdbhdrata mentions that the flowers ofit'ered to Yaksas, 

 Gandharvas, and Nagas make glad the heart, hence they are called 

 suuianasas, eumenides ; such flowers being other than the sharp- 

 .scented. thorny and red flowers used in magical rites (Hopkins, Epic 

 Mythology, p. 68). The incense made from deodar and Vatica 



^ As remarked by Hoernle the terms ceiya and ujjana, vana-sauda, vana- 

 khanda = grove or park, are interchangeable. 



" Rltual-Liicratnrc, Grundriss, III, 2, p. 86. It is quite possible that Hille- 

 brandt (like the author of the P. T. S. Pali Dictionary) ignores here the com- 

 mon meanings of caitya, other than funeral mound. I cannot help suspecting 

 too that when Keith {Religion and Philosopliy of the Veda, p. 73) remarks 

 that " Buddhist literature knows .... Yaksas who live in relic mounds," a 

 pre-occupation with the idea of funeral mounds (which are but one kind of 

 caitya) underlies the statement, which seems to be founded only on a misinter- 

 pretation of the collocation Yakkha-cetiya. 



It is true that the word caitya is said to be derived from a root ci meaning 

 to build or heap up ; but as used in the Epics and early Buddhist and Jaina 

 literature, it means any holystead, altar, shrine, grove, temple, etc. May it not 

 be derived from cif, with the sense therefore of an object to be meditated upon 

 or attended to? 



The Epic uses tlie word cdilka when Bauddha cetiyas (stupas) are specifically 

 meant; and in Jaina works, Jaina ceiyas arc distinguished as ArJiat ceiya. 



