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HISTORY OF JAINA MONACHISM
381 (9) if it was damaged due to floods,
(10) if they complained of any trouble from the bad elements in the society while going to ease nature,
(11) if their son or any other close relative was dead, then to pacify them; in these cases, the gañadhara accompanied them to their relatives,
(12) if a nun was to begin fast unto death, (13) if she was to undertake any other long-term fast,
(14) if a nun was dead, then the sūri went to the nunnery to pacify other nuns for two or three days,
(15) if new monks came, they went to the pravartini to inquire about the devoted and adverse families in the town,
(16) if monks did not know that particular regional language then they went to the pravartini through whom they managed to get a residence,
(17) if a nun was bitten by a snake or was down with high fever or cholera or bile or asthma, or if they were troubled by the Mleñchas or by the Mālavas or by wild animals, then the gañadhara went to the nunnery,
(18) the king, or a prince, or a minister, or his son, a merchant or his son, a priest or his son-all these could go to the nunnery if they had become monks. This, it was said, was sufficient to impress the nuns that even such big personalities had joined the order,
(19) if relatives or the guards of a king came to the monastery to take back the prince who had renounced the world and who did not wish to rejoin householdership, then that monk-prince was hidden in a nunnery, where he pretended to be a sick nun and the rest of the nuns waited upon him. This was done, it is said, to avoid condemnation by the people who were likely to accuse Jaina monks of frequently taking to worldly life again,
(20) if a nun was seriously ill then the ācārya could go to the nunnery to inquire about her, and in dangerous cases to call a physician. If the ācārya knew something of diagnosis, then he was to examine her without looking to her face, breasts, thighs or private parts.
From the above items it seems that ties based on mutual help and duty between the monks and the nuns became more close those in the previous phases. This was possibly owing to the widening of the activities of the Church to win over royal and popular support as also to increase the spirit of unity between its two wings. For instance, one of the above rules allowed the monks to approach the pravartinī in case they did not know the regional language. Thus the monks approached the safer quarters for information rather than face the strangers there.
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