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CHAPTER 2
THE CHEDASŪTRAS, NIRYUKTIS AND THE REST OF THE
TEXTS OF THE CANON
Introduction After the Angas and the Mülasūtras come the rest of the texts of the Canon. Among these, the Chedasūtras may be taken to be the oldest portions. Then come the Niryuktis and the remaining texts of the groups called the Upāngas and the Prakīrņakas.
Our task will be to note down the information regarding various aspects of monastic life as revealed in these texts. THE CHURCH:
The religious zeal of Mahāvīra, his ganadharas and followers must have led, in a short time, to the spread of Jainism, not only in Magadha but outside the birth-place of Jainism itself. The more the monks went out, the more they came in contact with new people, new customs and peculiar local atmosphere, and a necessity of organising the Church on a solid basis, was perhaps felt. The following details as revealed in the Chedasūtras and later on by the Niryuktis, may be said to support the observation made above. But before making any other general observations, it would be better to take a glimpse of the Jaina Church as depicted in these texts.
Initiation : Persons Fit to Enter Order :
The list of eighteen personsdisqualified for the Church seems to have remained unchanged, and the same persons were disallowed entry to the Church.
The Chedasūtras refer here and there to persons not allowed to enter monkhood, as for instance, the BỊhatkalpa? which lays down that the impotent
(paņdaä), the timid (kīva) and the sexually defective persons (vāja) should be initiated. Among the persons who were deemed difficult to convert were the wicked-minded (duttha), the ignorant (mūdha) and persons of un
1. Thân. 3, 202 2. 4, 4.
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