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 415

S. B. DEO
purpose of several members of a gaccha as a single unit was also sometimes followed.
410
(athava yāvatyo gacchaṁ sakalamapi veştayanti tāvatyo grhyate, na pratyekamekaikasyā grahaṇaniyamaḥ iti).
The Distribution:
The gaṇāvacchedaka had the full quota of the total cloth in his control. He then distributed it according to the needs of each monk.
When to Use a Particular Type of Curtain ?
It was said that the 'cilimili' was an essential article of the 'gacchaväsins' or the 'sthavirakalpikas'.
The 'sutramay', 'rajjumayi', 'valkamayi' and the 'dandakamayï' curtains were to be used while on tour. The last, however, made of bamboo (kadaga), was used when the monks were not touring.
The Uses of a Curtain:
The following were the occasions when the 'cilimilika' was used:
(1) while doing 'pratilekhana',
(2) when studying,
(3) to avoid women gazing at the monks,
(4) to prevent foul smell getting in from a particular direction,
(5) to avoid sight of blood or fat,
(6) to avoid servants (ceta) peeping in,
(7) to protect oneself from flies and gnats,
(8) to enable the ill to ease nature,
(9) to prevent the ill from taking nearby objects like milk, etc.,
(10) to close the entrance with a bamboo curtain to prevent thieves and others getting in,
(11) at the time of giving medicine to the ill,
(12) to close the doors till the dead was not disposed of.
(13) to carry the dead by the 'dandaka cilimill',
(14) to prevent rain coming in,
(15) to spread wet requisites over the curtain for drying,
and (16) to prevent the ill from being the victim of spirits and ghosts. This was very often the case in the country called Golla.171
171. Ibid. Vol. III, 2378-81; See 'Cilimika' in Cullavagga VI, 2, 6. It has been translated as 'a carpet': SBE., XX, pt. III, p. 167.