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HISTORY OF JAINA MONACHISM
287 these rules were set aside. It would not be out of place here to study some of the rules regarding this as given in the Niryuktis.
The Mode of Begging :
After performing the necessary duties, the monks went in pairs on the begging tour.452 Permission of the ācārya or, in his absence, of his immediate subordinate was essential before undertaking the alms-round; otherwise monks had to go in search of him who had gone out without seeking permission or without telling his co-monks.
The general rule was that the monk went on the begging round equipped with all his requisites. The normal outfit consisted of the alms bowl, the mātraka (small pot), the patalas, the broom (rajoharana), staff (danda), and the pair of clothings so put on as to cover the pots as well as the shoulder.453 The mātraka was necessarily to be there in order to accept something scarce, or something required for the guru or for the ill.454 Or else, he accepted solid food in one pot and liquids in another.455
Unfit Places :
In the begging tour he avoided three kinds of places which were either injurious to himself (atmopaghātika), or were contrary to the rules of the scriptures (pravacanopaghātika), or those that were likely to lead to the breaking of self-control (samyamopaghātika).456 These three categories included wild animals, places adjacent to shaky walls or holes, places full of living beings and sites of easing nature, bathrooms, etc. which were danger spots for a monk.
Nature of Pure and Impure Food :
The Pinďaniryukti deals with hair-splitting distinctions of the fundamental forty-six faults of begging and the purity of alms.
489-93; not eating food for the sake of increasing personal beauty: Ibid., 494-501; depositing impure food on a pure place: Ibid., 503; not to accept food from a sankhadi: Ibid., 84; food given in charity: Ibid., 86; food rich with oil, etc.: Ibid., 89; the reasons for eating food: Ibid., 579-80; the circumstances under which food is to be given up: Ibid., 581-82; taking the permission of the acārya before going on the begging round: Ibid., 239-41; unfit donors: Ibid., 467-68; the faults of uggama, uppāyana and esaņā: Ibid., 502; reasons for eating food: Pinda-N. 662; for giving up food: Ibid., 666; nature of improper food: Daśavaikälika-N. 116; proper begging: Ibid., 241.
452. Ogha-N. 411. 453. Ibid., 701, 454. Ibid., 425-6. 455. Ibid., 251. 456. Ibid., 462-66.
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