Tapping the bell at governance temple

In February 2001, I stayed in Bombay for some days in a small guesthouse beside a Jain temple. Unlike Hindu temples, with their prominent shikhar spires, the Jain temple looked from the outside more or less like an ordinary house (see Laidlaw 1995: 96). Throughout the day visitors came to it. I was struck by the fact that, as they ascended the temple steps, they all paused to tap a bell hanging at the entrance. The visitors appeared both various and independent. But they also seemed to reflect some single purpose as they moved in similar ways to mount the steps, tap the bell and enter.