________________
148 :: Aspects of Jaina Religion
we find that women were considered as inauspicious and people were asked to avoid seeing women, Sūdras, dead bodies, etc. Thus women had practically no place in the religious life of the society and as such they were neglected and degraded by the people.
Since the days of Rşabha the low position of women was definitely changed by Tīrtharkara Mahāvira in many ways. He removed various restrictions imposed on women especially in the practice of religion. In fact Tīrthankara Mahāvīra did not make any distinction between the males and the females in the observance of religion. The rules of conduct prescribed for the males and females were exactly the same. Both the sexes were given equal opportunities in different matters of religion like the study of sacred texts, observance of necessary duties, practice of vratas, i.e., vows, entrance into the ascetic order, practice of penance, making spiritual progress, etc. In the religious order of Tirtharkara Mahāvira the male house-holders were called śrāvakas and the female householders were termed śrāvikās, and both were quite free to observe their common religious duties and to prepare themselves for adopting ascetic life in due course. Similarly, complete freedom was given to women, like men, to enter the ascetic order. The female sex was no bar to the practice of asceticism. Tīrthankara Mahāvira always showed this attitude of equality towards women and admitted them freely into his ascetic order, no matter whether the candidates for admission were royal consorts, members of the aristocracy, and those belonging to the common run of society. Naturally many ladies availed themselves of this opportunity of achieving their salvation in due course by entering into the ascetic order. That is why in Tirthankara Mahāvira's religious organization there were two orders of ascetics, like those of house-holders, namely, sādhus, i.e., male ascetics and sādhvis, i.e., female ascetics. It is stated that in Tirthankara Mahāvira's fourfold religious order there were about 14000 sādhus, 36000 sādhvis, 1,00,000 Srāvaks and 3,00,000 Srāvikās. This shows that the female members outnumbered the male members in
