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

Page 395

S. B. DEO
(2) to go to another guru for further studies,
(3) to pacify one whose parents died on account of their son's renunciation,
(4) to give 'ālocana' to him who wanted to fast unto death,
(5) to nurse the ill,
(6) to honour the invitation of the ācārya,
(7) to pacify quarrels between monks and householders,
(8) to defeat the heretics,
(9) to pacify the king who had become unfavourable towards the monks,
and (10) to carry out works connected with the Kula, Gapa or Sangha,104
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Not to Wander Alone:
Touring was said to be of three kinds :
(a) gitärtha-vihära: The touring of the 'Jinakalpikas' who were free to wander alone,
(b) gitärthaniśrita: The touring of a group (gaccha) of monks under the direction of the äcärya,
and (c) agitärtha": Wandering at will, unpermitted by the Jinas.
The first two, therefore, were the only permitted modes of touring. For the first also, a monk was required to possess high moral qualities and a solid grounding in the sacred texts.
From this point of view, the Jinakalpika, the 'Pariharaviśuddhika' (comm. 'one who practises pratimas), the Acarya and the Upadhyaya, were looked upon as the 'gitärthas'.
The other members of the gaccha, those who had left the gaccha due to a calamity, those holding minor posts in the Church hierarchy like the Pravartaka, Sthavira and Ganavacchedaka, and ordinary monks were grouped together as 'gitärthaniśrita'.
In the 'gitärtha' category itself, three degrees were marked out. The 'jaghanya" was one who had studied the Nikithasûtra; the utkrsta" was one who knew the fourteen Purvas; and the 'madhyama" was one who had studied the Chedasūtras,103
The monks were allowed to tour in a group under any of these three types of 'gitärthas', and normally nobody was allowed to remain or wander
104. Brh. kalp. bha., Vol. III, 2784.
105. Ibid. Vol. I, 688-93.