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474
S. B. DEO
"so far extends the land of the pious".55 These roughly comprise the modern provinces of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. According to some texts, 56 it was Samprati, the grandson of Asoka, who opened up other parts of the country for the Jaina monks and nuns by spreading Jainism to those parts.
A lonely nun, under no circumstances, was to stay or tour, or enter a place of rest or relief,57 or enter a house for seeking food or drink. She was disallowed to go out even to a distance of two hands out of her residence at night.58 In this connection the story of Mrgāvatī,59 who could not keep proper time owing to the presence of the Moon and the Sun for the sermon of Mahāvīra and was reprimanded by the chief nun Candanā for this, is well-known.
Residence:
As in the four months of the rainy season, so also during the rest of the year, nuns had to search a proper residence. The quarters were not to lie beyond the limits of the householder's premises.60 Moreover, such a lodge was not to contain cobwebs or living beings.61 Specially cleaned or prepared lodges for the nun were not allowed.62 All the rules of the procedure of seeking a lodging were the same both for the monks and the nuns.63
Common residence for monks and nuns was normally disallowed. But in cases of calamities and unforeseen circumstances, like the stay in a forest, or in the vicinity of the colonies of Nāgas and Suvarnakumāras, in places where there was danger from robbers, and in such regions where either the monk or the nun could find no other shelter, they could have a common residence.64
According to the Brhatkalpasūtra, nuns were disallowed to live in a shop, a main road, a cross-road, a triangular place or quadrangular place or court or bazaar,65 in a house with open entrance if there was no curtain put over
55. Brh. kalp. 1, 51. 56. Byh. kalp. bhā. Vol. III, 327ff. 57. Brh. kalp. 5, 15-18. 58. Gacchācāra, 108. 59. Than. comm. p. 258a. 60. Brh. kalp. 1, 22ff. 61. Acär. II, 2, 1, 1 (p. 120). 62. Ibid., II, 2, 1, 3 (p. 121). 63. Ibid., II, 7, 2, 7ff (p. 175ff.).
64. Thän. p. 314a; Buddhist nuns were not allowed to live in a forest: LAW, 1.A. Vol. 57, p. 53.
65. 1, 12.
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