History of Jaina Monachism

SR No.: 001727
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S B Deo
Publisher: Deccan College Research Institute
Publication Year: 1956
Total Pages: 616
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Principle, & History
File Size: 12 MB

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S. B. DEO Besides this, it lays down that the decorating and the procession of the person wanting to enter order should be done on the days expressed as nandā' and 'bhadrā.'
Such and other details which are perhaps the peculiarity of later texts are found to be absent in the Chedasūtras, even though the fundamental rules regarding this ceremony seem to have remained unchanged.
Normally, no person was allowed to enter order in the rainy season. But in case he was found to be of exceptional abilities and knowledge, then such a person was initiated even in the rainy season.
The Confirmation:
The distinction between pavajjā and uvaţthāvanā was that the former simply enlisted the candidate into the order, and after a reasonable period of probation in which his conduct was noticed, he was confirmed into the order (upasthāpanā) by giving him the five great vows and other rules of monastic conduct.10 This period of pupilship or probation lasted for six months at the maximum, four months on an average, and the minimum was a week.11
If a candidate proved himself fit for confirmation then the ācārya and the upādhyāya were not to make delay. In case they did so deliberately or out of inadvertance, then they had to undergo either'cheda' or 'parihāra '12 Obtaining initiation in one group and going to another ācārya for confirmation was also allowed to monks.13
No details regarding the actual process either of initiation or of confirmation pertaining to the ceremonial aspect of it can be had in the Chedasūtras or the Niryuktis. It may be, therefore, that those items remained unchanged, and perhaps were the same as given in the Angas.
Church Hierarchy:
Once confirmed the candidate became a recognised member of the Church and had to conform to the rigorous discipline of the Church in general and to that of his immediate superior in particular.
9. Daśāśruta-N. 86. 10. The Sütrakrtănga-N. refers to the 'pavvāvana' and 'sikkhāvana'-v. 127 11. Vav. 10, 15. 12. Ibid., 4, 16; see Appendix 1. 13. Ibid., 7, 6-7.