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S. B. DEO
The absence of details about the life of a nun and of concrete examples in which the execution of Church discipline was generally revealed, were perhaps due to a comparative neglect of the Order of nuns by the Digambaras. Even when taken for granted that the rules laid down for the monks as given in the Mülācāra were also applicable to the nuns, still they fail to reveal a planned and a systematic Church hierarchy among the nuns of the Digambaras. The Svetāmbara texts give a list of officers such as the gañinī, the pravartinī, the abhişekā, the therī, the kşullikā, etc., but we fail to get such a planned scheme of details in the Digambara order of nuns.
Lack of details, however, need not lead one to believe that the nuns of the Digambaras had to undergo a less rigorous life than their Svetāmbara counterparts. There is no evidence to prove that. On the contrary both these sects laid an equally emphatic stress on the moral discipline and the general rigour of nun-life.
Jaina and Buddhist Orders of Nuns:
The order of nuns among the Jainas as a whole, if compared with that of the Buddhists, reveals some striking resemblances as well as contrasts. It would, therefore, be worthwhile to have a peep into the Order of the Buddhists nuns for this purpose.
Antiquity of the Nun-Order:
Even though we cast aside the existence of the nun-order at the time of the first Tirthankara of the Jainas who, it seems, is more a legendary figure than a historical one, the antiquity of the Order can go back safely to the times of Pārsva.
On the contrary, Buddha first organised a group of male disciples around him and it was later on during his career as a 'Buddha', and after frequent requests by his disciple Ananda, that he allowed entry to women.255
Inferiority of Nuns:
But in allowing entry to them he imposed certain rules (garudhammas) which attributed a lower position to a nun in relation to a monk. The fundamental rule was that a nun of even a hundred years' standing was to salute and show respect to a newly initiated monk.256 This rule was similar to such a one among the Jainas also, and it seems that the Buddhists as well as the Jainas were unanimous about the inferiority of nuns in relation to the monks.
255. Cullavagga, x, 256. Ibid., X, 1, 4.
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