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RELIGION
281
Mahavira and the various causes and circumstances that led to this transformation on the basis of the Nišitha Cūrni.
Jainism, in the early centuries of its history, flourished and developed its centres on and around the hills and most of the shrines and monasteries were confined to the hills. The monks rarely came in contact with the public which helped in keeping the purity of the faith intact and unimpaired. But by this time monks had usually started living in monasteries, upaśrayas or devakulas situated in or around the villages or at the houses of the devotees. The innumerable rules regarding proper and improper residence, the exact form of behaviour with the host,the abstinence from taking food of the host ( sayyatara ) and the rules regarding touring within a particular region5 show the fixed dwellings in villages to be the permanent feature of their life and it was only in the absence of residence that they spent the night in the open air.“ Though monk is ever exhorted not to develop intimacy with the laity or the public, yet this constant contact must have brought some changes in the monastic life especially when the tendency to propagate the religion was at its extreme. The sanction given to the monks to move with the caravan while passing through long and dreary regions, to attend the religious feasts arranged by the kings, the frequent references to religious discourses and teachings given by Jaina monks ( dhammakaha )' go to prove that the Jaina monks freely came in contact with the masses and tried their best to mould the spiritual, moral and mental outlook of the public. The monk was ever made conscious of the society so as not to create any doubts that may bring disfavour to the religion.
1. Desai, op. cit., p. 71. 2, NC. 2, p. 16. 3. NC. 2, pp. 130-37. 4. NC. 2, p. 130. 5. NO. 2, p. 139. 6. NC. 2, p. 17. 7, NC. 2, p. 178.
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