Devotion and Ethical Cultivation in Jinasena’s "Book of Beginnings"

This paper examines bhakti (devotion) to the Jina as a practice of ethical cultivation, mapping how Jain literature in Sanskrit may work to engender in its reader a devotional attitude toward the figure of the Jina. I focus on a the 33rd canto of Jinasena’s Book of Beginnings, a ninth century-CE hagiography of the first Jina, Adinatha. This canto follows Bharata, one of Adinatha’s sons, as he ascends Mount Kailasa to pay homage to his father. During this ascent, I track how Jinasena prepares his reader to ethically meditate upon the Jina’s good qualities once the Jina is met at the mountaintop. I demonstrate that it is not only Bharata who follows a path up Mount Kailasa, and not just Bharata who is meant to offer devotional bhakti to the Jina. The reader also traverses a path aimed to set their mind towards offering ethically formative devotion to the Jina.