Sramana 2011 01

SR No.: 525075
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sundarshanlal Jain, Shreeprakash Pandey
Publisher: Parshvanath Vidhyashram Varanasi
Publication Year: 2011
Total Pages: 172
Language: Hindi
Classification: Magazine, India_Sramana, & India
File Size: 15 MB

Page 63

Uposatha and Posaha in the Early Histories of Jainism...... : 45
though at this point in time, whenever that may have been, members of several religious groups joined together to be feted at the posaha, in the form of a great festive meal to feed all types of recipients of donated alms. The observance, and thus presumably the corre-sponding sociological formations, were not separated into the communal divisions we have at present. Our assumption that those sectarian formations were in force, or would have to have been, is an uncareful projection of later and present situations into the past. The Hindi commentary which accompanies the Ācārānga is noteworthy here as well, because it says, regarding 'samaņa' (Skt: śramaņa); 'there are five types of śramaņas: Knotless (Jain), sākyan (Buddhist), Ascetic, White, and ājivika (followers of Gośālaka' (śramaņa pañca prakāra ke hote hain: (1) nirgrantha (jaina), (2) śākya (Bauddha), (3) tāpas, (4) gaurika aura (5) ājīvika (gośālakamatīya)'6. In addition, the ĀS lists brāhmaṇas (the Hindi commentary calls these 'those who show up for food'!), beggars, the destitute, and guests, thus depicting an activity which more closely resembles the later celebrated mahādāna than anything else. In light of all this, the posaha appears to have been a community-wide festival of donations to the less fortunate, or to worthy recipients of alms without any regard for sectarian identity. We might also surmise, then, that it was celebrated by the greater community at large, and if that is the case, we have some serious reconfiguration of our account of the descent of the posaha ahead of us. Lastly, we might wonder what the Brāhmaṇas mentioned both in the root text and in the Hindi commentary are doing at the posaha, since they are supposed to be off somewhere keeping busy with their own upavasatha? Even if we give the Vedic view as charitable a treatment as we can, and suppose that the observance described here is the Brāhmaṇa upavasatha, we still have to wonder why the Ācārānga has the Brāhmaṇas eating at the posaha, since the upavasatha requires them to fast?