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THE BACKGROUND OF THE BUDDHIST VINAYA
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practices constrained him to make allowance for those who were inclined that way.
Thus the dhutangas, though we neither find the Buddha superseding Devadatta's demand by any other precepts nor we come across any reference to the dhulangas either in the Nikayas or in the Vinaya texts, was most probably the concession granted to those who were in favour of rigorous ascetic practices. There is reason for such a remark. Devadatta's proposals' were, as a matter of fact, pertaining to (a) food
i. pindapatika assu (let the monks depend on alms), ii. macchamamsan na khădeyyun (let the monks not
take fish and meat); (b) dress iii. passukülikā assu (let the monks wear rags); & (c) dwelling iv, araññika assu (let the monks be forest-dweller), &
v. rukkhamülika assu (let the monks live at the foot
of a tree). The dhutangas which are thirteen in number, too, were special vows regarding the same three needs of monastic life, viz., (a) food
i. pindapātikangań-to eat food procured by
begging only, ii. sapadanacārikangan-to beg alms from door to
door without any omission, iii. eka sanikangaṁto take meal at one sitting only, iv. pattapindikangaṁ - to eat from one vessel only, v. khalupacchabhattikangam-not to take meal after
finishing meal; (b) dress vi. parsukalikangam-to use robes made of rags
taken from dust-heaps,
vii. tecīvarikangan-to use not more than three robes; & (c) dwelling viji. araññikangam--to dwell only in forests,
ix. rukkhamūlikangan to live at the foot of a tree,
x, abbhokasikangan-to live in open sky, xi. sosanikangam- to live in a cemetery, xii. yatha santhatikangam-to use whatever bed or seat
is available and xiii. nesojjikangan-to spend night sitting and not
lying.
1. CV, 7. 9. 14, pp 297-300.
Vide Visuddhimaggo, Dhutanganiddcao, Milind a panho, Dhutangakathā.
