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226
Vasaha :
Another officer designated by this term is to be found in the Ogha
Niryukti,61
He is not to be found in the Chedasūtras like the Nisitha, Kalpa or Vyavahāra.
S. B. DEO
The niryukti refers to him next to the thera, and the explanation given of the term 'Vrsabha' by the commentary is 'vaiyāvṛtyakaraṇasamarthaḥ.' Thus from this explanation, it seems that this person was stout enough and his duty was to wait upon the ill. It may be that this post was not equivalent to that of any other administrative one, and was purely honorific (vrsabha bull) designation.
The Problems of Seniority and Succession:
These officers in the Church heirarchy were bound by explicit rules of seniority and succession, and the various groups of monks had to abide by these.
The term used to denote seniority, as we have already noted in the Angas, was rainiä, and the same term is to be found in the Chedasūtras also. This seniority (paryaya) was based on the number of years spent in the Church as a monk. Those who were juniors were termed 'omarainiya'. Considerations of learning rather than of age were also taken into view in assigning seniority to some persons. Another expression that denoted subordination was 'puraö kaṭṭu' which meant that a monk or a nun lived under the authority of somebody else."
63
In order to avoid the conflict between age and seniority, certain rules had to be framed to avoid bad feeling between different members of the Church. With a view, therefore, to put this into practice, the 'ayariyaüvajjhaya' waited for four or five days if during that period another monk older in age completed his studies. Then he first confirmed the elder and then the younger even though the latter had completed his studies earlier. It may, however, be noted that the margin left for the completion of studies. was not much as that would otherwise have made him not very eager in
61. V. 125.
62. Vav, 4, 24; Brh, kalp. 3, 19-21; cf. Than. 240a; also in Ogha-N. 414; Avadyaka
-N. 671.
63. Ibid., 713.
64. Vav. 4, 11.
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