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 426

HISTORY OF JAINA MONACHISM
421
been a very common supernatural qualification and a monk possessing that was designated a 'carana-muni.'
The Kalpalatävyäkkyä,225 or the commentary on the Kalpasūtra gives numerous stories about supernatural feats by different monks. It is related there that Rohagupta used different spells like the 'mayuri,' 'nakuli,' 'biḍāli,' 'vyāghri,' 'simhï,' 'aluki' and 'hoülāvaki' in his debate with Poṭṭasāla who was endowed with 'vrścika,' 'sarpa,' 'müşaka', 'mrgi,' 'värähi,' 'käki' and 'sākunikā' spells. The same commentary refers to an 'abhimantrita rajoharana' or a charmed broom.
Besides these, a number of other spells are referred to. They are the 'addaa' (curing the patient by making him see his reflection in a mirror),228 'anteüri' (curing the ill by wiping one's own body), janavani' (which let one know the whereabouts of a person), 'pannatti' (prediction about future), sankari (which made the reciter surrounded by friends and servants to carry out the orders),230 and such others.
Along with the practice of such spells, the monks in this phase seemed. to have an implicit faith in dreams and superstitions. Sneezing, stumbling while going somewhere, going to a physician in odd numbers, studying only on auspicious times, renouncing the world on proper muhurtas, and sprinkling the dead with bodily excreta if a ghost entered it, all these reveal the element of superstition prevalent in the monastic life of this period.
Before concluding, it may be noted that many of the stories are of a legendary nature. Secondly, these magical practices are mostly ascribed to the 'paribbājakas', and it is not clearly stated whether in all these cases Jaina monks participated. Lastly, it may be that the Bhāṣyas and other texts were written under the influence of the contemporary conditions which perhaps encouraged these practices. It may, therefore, be concluded that the monastic life in general was full of the practice of spells and the Jaina monks could not totally abstain from them.
Study:
Study of a particular book was threefold, as it pertained either to the text (sutra), or to the meaning (artha) or to both these categories (tadu
225. p. 229b.
226. Vav. bhā. 5, 136-38. 227. Ibid.
228. Uttar. Ti. p. 189a.
229. Ibid. p. 138.
230. Ibid. p. 189a.
231. Brh kalp. bha. Vol. II, 1921-24; V, 5500-2.