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HISTORY OF JAINA MONACHISM
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the documents containing wisdom of the past. Till recently no stranger was allowed to have access to these, but the Jainas have admirably brought out some of the wealth by publishing many of the Mss. as well as preparing exhaustive catalogues of the contents of these Bhändāras.
It should also be noted that the Jaina monks did not rest content only with writing in Sanskrit and Prakrit, but they have mastered the New Indian languages like Gujarati, Rajasthānī and Hindi, and have, of late, produced literature in these languages, though instances of Sanskrit and Prakrit works can also be pointed out.
This effort of study and literary activity blended with a pure mode of life has given peculiar powers of memory to some Jaina monks. In this connection, the instance of a Jaina ācārya who performed wonderful feats of memory in Bombay in the recent past are too fresh to be forgotten.
Daily Routine:
The items of daily routine did not change in theory, though in abnormal circumstances, they had to.
Early morning either before (as in the case of the Sthavirakalpikas) or after sunrise (in the case of the Jinakalpikas) the monks did the scanning of the requisites. Some texts lay down that, this 'padlilehana' was to be done after the performance of the 'avasyakas'. The things to be examined were the 'muhapatti', 'rayaharana', two 'nisejjās', 'colapatta', 'santhara', 'uttarapatta' and the three clothings. After scanning, the requisites were to be kept bound except in the rainy season. Under calamities, the monk was allowed to do 'padilehana', at any time he got leisure to do so.251
Nowadays, after the 'avaśyakas', the monk goes to 'caityavandana' or to the temple. This item, it may be noted, has come to more prominence, due to the Jaina laity building palacial temples to the Tirthankaras. Thus the 'caityavandana' has become an important item in the daily routine of the monk. In the temple, he does not worship the deity but merely bows down and performs what may be called mental worship (bhāva-pūjā).
After return to the monastery, the monk or whoever is chief among them gives a lecture to the laymen at about 9 a.m. After that, he goes on the begging tour and accepts food with the proper rules for it. Then showing the food to the guru and making 'alocana' he eats the food.
After taking food, he takes rest for an hour or two. Then again at four in the afternoon, he scans his requisites, engages in studying, goes to
251. Brh. kalp. bha. Vol. II, 1661-65.
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