Book Title: Anuvrat Movements Theory and Practical Author(s): Shivani Bothra Publisher: USA Florida International UniversityPage 50
________________ 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. 40Page Navigation
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