Aspects of Jaina Monasticism

Author(s): Nathmal Tatia, Mahendramuni
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 49

"sama", etc. (119).
"Those who know dharma and utter the Veda say that it is a breach (atikrama) of his observance if a twiceborn who has undertaken the observance intentionally emits semen (120).8
"To the Maruts, to Puruhūta (Indra), to the Teacher, and to the Fire, to these four passes the Brahmic glory of the man bound by the observance, who is an avakirṇin (121).
"When this sin has been committed he shall clothe himself in the ass's hide and go begging to seven houses, proclaiming his act (122).
"Subsisting on a single meal consisting of the alms received from there and ritually cleansing himself at the three periods (morning, noon and evening), he is purified after one year (123)".
Dr P.V. Kane, in his History of Dharmasastra, tracing the genesis of the idea of avakirnin, writes as follows:
"The most reprehensible act in a brahmacarin was to have sexual intercourse with a woman. The Taittiriya Aranyaka10 speaks of the prayaścitta for such a brahmacārin who is called avakīrṇin. The Gautama Dharmasutrall quotes the Taittiriya Araṇyaka..., and further provides that he should kindle fire at midnight on a new moon day and then offer two ajya oblations by way of penance...The Baudhayana Dharmasutra 12 contains the same rules. Jaimini13 prescribes that ordinary (laukika) fire is to be used for the pašu to be sacrificed (viz. ass to Nirrti which is symbolic
The Twenty-one Sabalas 17
of the stupid lapse the student is guilty of) and Sabara quotes a Vedic passage that 'a brahmacarin who has become avakirnin should sacrifice ass to Nirṛti'. The Apastamba Dharmasutra,14 Vasistha Dharmasutra,15 Manusmrti16 and Yajnavalkyasmrti17 contain a similar provision. The Manusmrti18 and Visnu DharmaSūtra19 prescribe that a brahmacarin so guilty should for one year wear the skin of the ass, should beg for food at seven houses announcing to them his lapse, should bathe thrice and then only he becomes pure."
as
The above treatment of the subject clearly shows the different patterns of punishment prescribed in Jainism and Buddhism on the one hand, and Brāhmaṇism on the other. Another important aspect of the subject that draws our attention is the bewildering details found in the Jaina and Buddhist texts opposed to the simplicity of the offence in the Brahmaṇical literature. Dr I. B. Horner, in her Introduction to The Book of the Discipline20 (Vinaya Pitaka) has characterized the relevant passages as 'crude', and has raised three points in this connection. "In the first place", she says, "they were neither spoken nor written down for a general public, but were intended only for the devotees of celibacy. Secondly, the motive which led to their being uttered or written down was not a desire to shock, but the need to prevent unchastity. Thirdly, the pattern on which the compilers of the Suttavibhanga worked was one of almost unbelievable detail, for in