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Although, the more conservative Jains have criticized Tulsi's reforms, calling the
resulting vows "inferior vows,” they were still very much in line with Tulsi's goal of
encouraging greater involvement of laity while remaining true to traditional Jain
practices. As an illustration, I will now present how my respondents in India viewed
Tulsi's vows in greater depth, and address the relationship between Tulsi's 11 vows and
the 5 categories of the Sravakacara's Anuvrat vows: ahimsa (nonviolence), satya,
(truthfulness), asteya, (not stealing), brahmacharya (celibacy), and aparigraha (limiting
possessions)
The Vows of Tulsi's Anuvrat Movement
Vow One: I will not intentionally kill any innocent creature. I will not commit suicide and
I will not commit feticide.
The first vow clearly belongs to the category of ahimsa, exhibiting great
reverence for all living beings. The traditional ahimsa vow entails five infractions: the
treatment of humans and animals in one's care and include holding beings in captivity,
beating, mutilating or branding, loading excessive weight on the back or head and
providing insufficient food or water."86 The vow centered on the protection of animals
was relevant when conduct for the household was dependent on agricultural activities in a
predominantly agricultural India. In the Anuvrat Movement of the mid twentieth century,
Tulsi expanded on the ahimsa vow by specifically singling out the issues of suicide and
abortion, as he was aware that they were topics of great public debate in modern Indian
society than the issues related to animals.
86 Ibid., 173.
