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Critical Review of the Debate of Man-Woman Equality (In Digambara, Śvetāmbara, Yāpaniya and Contemporary Perspective)
(A paper presented in a U.G.C sponsered National Seminar on 'WOMEN AND JAINAISM' on 11th 12th Feb. 2012, organized by Shri Atma Vallabha Jaina Museum, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Nagarjuna Nagar (A.P.))
Introduction
In Jaina tradition, the equality of man and woman is considered in respect to moksa or nirvana and in this context they consider the impossibility of a woman to attain nirvana as she fails to establish her as complete possessionless due to inability of her being nude. Ācārya Kundakunda
has explicitly opposed attainment of liberation from woman birth. Based on this, the post Kundakunda literature have further enhanced the view of non-liberation from woman soul and thus increased the gap between man and woman similarity. In this paper the points of man-woman inequality highlighted by the Digambaras are noted down from the original Digambara texts. We can sum up the Digambara views about a woman in nutshell, likewise :
* A woman cannot attain liberation in stri-paryāya but man can attain moksa from purusa
paryāya.? * Man can observe five bigger vows and of course the vow of non-possession completely. He can accept nudity very easily. Due to social constraints a woman cannot observe the
vow of complete nudity. Hence her vows remain incomplete. * A monk observing five bigger vows are eligible to be worshipped. A nun cannot enjoy this
status.
In Jaina śāstras six bodily statures (samhananas) are mentioned. Among them the first three statures are strong. A woman cannot have strong bodily statures so they are called
abalā.5
* By nature, bodily impurities are found more in a woman than in a man.
* Therefore woman is not eligible to possess the pious scriptural knowledge." * A monk possessing scriptural knowledge is eligible for pathana, pāthana, adhyāpana and
vacanã, whereas a woman cannot.
* As a corollary, a nun cannot acquire a designation like Ācāryā, Upādhyāyini etc. * Since a woman is deprived of knowledge the expertise in conversation (vādarddhi)
becomes a privilege of man. 10
* Only a man can acquire the riddhis and siddhis like amosahi etc." * The mystical power and mystical body which is used for the removal of doubts is also a
privilege of a spiritual man. 12
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