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HISTORY OF JAINA MONACHISM
501
'pañcaśramanikā' which is explained away briskly as 'raktapatikādayah' i.e., those who wear red garments and such others. As with these, the nuns had to be careful about the contact with the devoted laity also. They were disallowed to go to a householder without any reason, and if they had to go on religious mission then they went in groups, only after getting the permission of the ganini.253 No other worldly contact like fondling their children or feeding them was ever allowed.254
Comparison Between Svetāmbara and Digambara Nun-Order:
It may be made clear, after taking a survey of the rules of the order of nuns both among the Digambaras and the Svetāmbaras, that on account of the scantiness of the details about nuns in the Digambara texts as compared with those in the Svetāmbara books, it is difficult to compare and contrast fully the modes of life of nuns among these two major parties of the Jaina Church. Whatever rules are given about monk-life in the Digambara texts are mainly for the monks, and it is difficult to make out whether all of them were applicable even to the nuns. The Svetāmbara texts like the Ācārānga, the Chedasütras, and the Bșhatkalpabhāsya give sundry rules for both of them and generally start with the phrase "je bhikkhu bhikkhuni va" or "je nigganthe nigganthi vā” i.e., “those monks or nuns”, thus making the rule compulsory for both.
Inspite of this lack of details on one side, the few general observations that could be made are noted below.
As regards the approach to woman in general, both the Svetāmbaras as well as the Digambaras do not differ. In both the sects the position of a nun was inferior to that of a monk, the Digambaras, however, going to the extent of labelling the woman to be unfit for Liberation. Both the sects held that a monk who had newly entered the Order was superior to a nun of a long standing and was worthy of respect from her. Not only that, but the ultimate authority in the case of nuns was a male figure in the office of the ācārya, and the pravartini and the gañinī were subordinate to him.
In study also, the Digambara and Svetāmbara nuns, were, perhaps, on par as they were not allowed to study certain texts while the monks were allowed to do so. This was attributed to the fickleness of women and their weakness of intellect.
None of them allowed nudity to nuns though the reasons given for this differ with the Svetāmbara and the Digambara texts.
253. Ibid., 4, 192. 254. Ibid., 4, 193.
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