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(iii) Tavasa-Tāvasa Samanas were the hermits or forestrecluses who lived in the forests (vaņavā si şo)? practising meditation and various other spiritual austerities. They were people following the third stage of life, i. e. Vanaprastba. The Tavasas lived in the Aśramas situated amidst the forests and their head was called Kulapati.2 Various classes of the Tāvasas have been mentioned in the Jainas and the Brāhmaṇic texts of which the following have been referred to in the NC.: (i) Govvaiya — They were the worshippers of cow who had
taken the vrata of gocarya. According to the ancient texts,
this vrata consisted of imitating the ways of a cow.5 (ii) Disa pokkhi®—They were a class of the Vānaprasthi
Tāvasas who sanctified all the sides by sprinkling water before gathering flowers and fruits. A graphic description of this class of the Tavasas is to be found in the description of Siva, the royal sage of Hastinapura who retired from life by joining the order of the Disā pokkhiya
Távasas.? (iii) Pańcaggitāvaya8_They were the worshippers of the five
fold fire who practised pamcaggi penance by burning fire on the four sides and facing the sun above their head. Bāna describes the sage Harita as having faced (lit. drunk ) the scorching rays of the sun' during his course
1.719 qualfeit-NC. 3, p. 414. 2. NC. 3, p. 425; NC. 2, p. 328. 3. Ovāiya Sūtra, 38, p. 170; Bhagavati Sūtra, 11. 9. 417. 4. गोव्वयादिया दिसापोक्खया पंचग्गितावया पंचगव्वासणिया एवमादिया सव्वे कुचया
NC. 3, p. 195. 5. Papañca Südani, 3. 1000; sec-Agrawala, V. S., Prācina Bharatiya
Lokadharma, p. 102. 6. NC. 3, p. 195. 7. Bhagavati Sutra, 11. 9. 417; see also-Sikdar, J. C., Studies in the
Bhagavati sütra, p. 176. 8. NC. 3, p. 195, also p. 179. 9. Agrawala, V. S.; Kadambari : Eka Sanskrtika Adhyayana, p. 48.
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