Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c15.s3.27

c15.s3.27

Sankhaḍi (Sankhaṭi in Pali)¹⁶⁹ or bhojja was another great feast which played an important part in ancient India Sankhaḍi is so called because at this time animals were killed in large numbers ¹⁷⁰ This feast was celebrated either for one day (egadu asam) or for many days (an gadwasam) in the first part of the day (purasankhaḍi) or after sunset (pucchasankhaḍi) Girijanna (giriyajna) is mentioned in Vraja when food was taken at night and the milk was drunk early in the morning anunodavacelā) ¹⁷¹ Girijanna was also celebrated in Lāta during rainy season ¹⁷² In order to enjoy a sankhaḍi, people made a pilgrimage to different places In Selapura sankhaḍis were held every year at the lake Isitalāga for eight days. These feasts were also celebrated in Bharuyakaccha, Pabhāsa, Abbuya, at the eastern bank of the river Sarassai near Ānandapura, Ujjenta, Nāyasanda and Siddhasilā. In these sankhaḍis the monks of other sects such as Śākya, Bhauta and Bhāgavatas assembled; there were regular discussions between them. There in the gardens the drunken voluptuaries dressed in fantastic garments, gesticulated with their hands and sang erotic songs, and there the men and women, drunk and decked in fineries, played. The Jain monks were allowed to attend these feasts only if held at holy places, because only at holy places they could preserve their right faith (samyaktva), otherwise there was possibility of their being insulted, poisoned or even killed at the hands of heretics¹⁷³