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HISTORY OF JAINA MONACHISM
417
Exceptions:
Ample exceptions to these rules about food are to be found in this phase of monachism.
Against the general rule of not accepting or eating food at night, the following exceptions were allowed: 197
(1) in cases of illness; (2) in cases of the unbearable severity of trouble from hunger, thirst
and weakness; (3) under the practice of penances like 'Candagavejjha' if that was
likely to lead to 'asamadhi'; (4) along travel.
In Mahārāştra, monks were allowed to take food along with the Kalpapālas or Kalāls, and in the country of the Indus, monks could take food with the washermen (rajaka). In the Konkana, people were said to be in the habit of eating various kinds of fruits and flowers, and in the Sindhu region people being predominantly of non-vegetarian habits, the monks were asked to adjust their mode of life with these surroundings.198
Sometimes the monks were forced by the king, wishing to ward off some calamity or to please some divine being, to take food at night.199
Under circumstances of siege of the place of residence, the monks were not allowed to beg out of the gates of the town if the guards suspected them. If, however, they assured them about the alms, then the monks were permitted not to go out but accept even impure food from them.200
If a monk happened to go to a settlement of robbers or to a deserted village where only flesh was available for eating, then the monk was allowed to partake of flesh as an exception to the general rule of not eating flesh.201
In the northern part of India (Uttarāpatha), people generally took food at night. If monks happened to travel there under exceptional circumstances like famine, then they had also to follow the local practice of eating food at night.202
Under sickness, the monks were allowed to take wine with the advice of the doctor. The commentator goes on to add that the monks should secure
197. Ibid. Vol. III, 2872-81. 198. Ibid. Vol. II, (p. 384). 199. Ibid. Vol. V, 4962-64. 200. Ibid. Vol. IV, 4826-30. 201. Ibid. Vol. III, 2906-11; Nis-C. p. 134.
202. Ibid. p. 139. BULL. DCRI.-53
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