Atonements In Ancient Ritual Of Jaina Monks

Author(s): Collete Caillat
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 57

p. 53
41
The religious who are "apart from the flock" and who are indifferent towards it (gaccha-niggaya, niravekkha), are classed under three headings. We give them in the order constantly respeated by T: the jinakalpika (jinakappiya), the parihāraviśuddhika or suddhapārihārika (cf. Amg. pariharakappa-tthi(y)a, or părihuriya), the yathalanda-(pratimā)kalpika (ahālaṇdiya).
A study of the atonement known as parihara will show the provisions which determine the status of the second.
The jinakappiya is "of the rule of the Jina". He goes about alone, naked, carrying no belongings, enduring inconvenience and discomfort, and making his quest comply with various restrictions concerning time, food, and place1. In all these mortifications, he imitates the conduct of Mahavira after his enlightenment, during the twelve years he lived as a wandering ascetic (Ayar 1, 29f.; 40 ff.; Worte p. 115ff.)
The solitude. to which the niggantha is bound is thus in direct contradiction to the express injunction generally incumbent on the. Jaina monk never to be alone (supra). Thus compared with the norm of the elders, the rule of the Jina can justifiably be considered as archaic.2
The observance called yathalanda-pratima is so obsolete that the Pravacanasāra is non-commital when relating the details of its provisions (gāthā 611– 628; p. 172b-176a; cf. ittham tavad asmāḥhir vyākhyātam, 174a 4).
Its name derives from the fact that the religious who follow this practice, impose upon themselves amongst other things a time limit : landam tu hoi kalo (ibid 611)3 their quest in one particular area must not
exceed five days :
ettha puna pañca-rattam ukkosam hoi ahalandam
jamha u pañca-rattam caranti tamhā u hunti 'halandi (612f.)
The area may be a village, in which case they visit six a month. If the town is of some size, the area will be one of six districts or streets (vithi) – an imaginary division made for their own religious purposes. They will cover this area completely within the allotted time. During the course of the year, they change their place of shelter at the same time as they change donor but during the monsoon their place of residence remains fixed, and they are obliged to make the second type of round (1736). Their status is midway between that of the jinakappiya and that of the therakappiya; moreover, it is not uniform.
They do not live alone, but in groups of five :
1 Cf. K p. 47 quoting Abhayadeva; JACOBI, SBE 22, 57 n. 2; Worte, 100.
2 It would appear in fact that the earliest religious in India lived in solitude. 3 Cf. K Bh 4 743, ad K 3, 25; compare JACOBI, Kalpa, p. 121, n. ad Pajjos 9. 4 Mahavira had stayed one day in villages, and five days in towns (Lehre § 18). J. A...6