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CHAPTER 4
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ANUVRAT VOWS AND THEIR CONTEMPORARY
EFFECTIVENESS
As a part of outlining the Anuvrat path of self-transformation from its historical
foundation to the current practices, I will now examine the 11 vows, which Tulsi
considered mandatory for an Anuvrati. Therefore, I will demonstrate the theory behind
the Tulsian vows and discusss some of the challenges encountered by the Anuvratis in
practicing them. Furtermore, my focus for this section is also to analyze the effectiveness
of Tulsian vows in the contemporary Indian society today.
Vows
As said earlier, within Jainism there exist two sets of vows: the Mahavrat for the
ascetic and the Anuvrat for the lay community. In the eleventh century text,
Sravakacara,Acharya Amitagati enumerated the vows and conduct prescribed for the
lay disciple. According to the noted Jain scholar, Padmanabh S. Jaini, the rules of lay
conduct are severe and thus the number of persons able to adhere to such conduct would
be small. Some contemporary Jains have suggested, along the view of the above
statement, that Acharya Tulsi was well aware of the prevailing laxity among Jains in
keeping up with the traditional vows. Therefore, he developed the Anuvrat Movement as
a way of making the rules outlined in the Sravakacara both easier to follow and more
relevant to a modern audience. However, this reformation did not diminish the
significance Tulsi placed on the traditional vows.
$$ Padmanabh S Jaini, The Jaina Path of Purification (University of California Press, 1979), 80.
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