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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Quantity of Food and Mode of Eating:
After having acquired the proper articles of food, the monk showed them to his äcārya, and then ate that which was allowed by him. As we have already seen, no preservation of food till the last quarter of the day was allowed.442
The rule about the normal (pamänähär!) quantity of food consisting of thirty-two morsels (kavala), each of the size of a hen's egg (kukkudiända), and such other details as given in the Angas,443 are to be found in the Chedasūtras444 also.
S. B. DEO
The normal time of eating food was of course the day and no night meal (raïbhoyana) was allowed.445
The proper mode of consuming food was that in which the monk ate food not for taste but for the maintenance of the body. Hence, eating only tasty food (subbhim subbhim bhunñjal) 447 was deemed a transgression of ideal monastic conduct. Frequent requests to the householder for food, and throwing food on the earth or on the bed, or up in the sky, made a monk liable for punishment.448
Miscellaneous Rules:
Exchange of food was not allowed without the permission of the guru. Under all circumstances giving food to or accepting it from a person of loose morals (pasattha) was not encouraged.449 Consideration, however, was shown to the weak and the ailing, and the acarya gave more food to them if there arose a danger of their collapse.450
The Niryuktis, besides referring to the above rules,451 give details regarding the actual execution of the faults and the exceptions under which
441. Ibid., 4, 20.
442. Brh.kalp. 4, 11; 5, 49.
443. Bhag. 292a.
444. Vav. 8, 16.
445. Brh.kalp. 1, 43; 5, 6-9.
446. Dasa. 5th Daśā.
447. Nis. 2, 43-49.
448. Ibid., 16, 33-35.
449. Ibid., 15, 79-98.
450. Ibid., 10, 36-39; Brh.kalp. 4, 26; Vav. 2, 6.
451. For instance: not accepting food from a house having low doors, or having no doors, or the doors of which are blocked by a person standing, or if they are blocked by a carriage or by a big pot: Ogha-N. 476; that which is given with a wet hand: Ibid.,