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OCTOBER, 1978
Each Jaina Sangha requires certain materials for growth and development and its progress can be restricted, if the environment, climatic, social, economic, political and religious, does not provide certain minimal amount of each of these materials. Too much of a certain factor would act as a limiting factor just as well as too little of it and that the distribution of each Jaina Sangha is determined by its range of tolerance to variations in each of the environmental factors.
Some Jaina monastic organizations have very narrow ranges of tolerance63 (parişaha) to environmental factors, while others can survive with vision of much broader limits.84 A given monastic organisation may have narrow limits of toletance for one factor and wide limits for another.
Temperature is an important factor for Jaina Sangha as the relative sparseness of life in the desert of Rajasthan and the cold climate of Kashmir demonastrates.
Most of the Jaina Sanghas, Ganas or Gacchas, etc. that do live in Rajasthan have adapted to the rigours of the environment by living in Upāśraya or any other suitable shelter during day and coming out only to take alms at proper time from the houses of the Sravakas. Many Jaina Sanghas escape a bitter cold of Northern winter not by moving or migrating to South but by putting on some clothes to keep them warm.
It seems that Jaina Sanghas, Ganas, Gacchas, etc. had to evolve some ways, for the protection against too little light or darkness to avoid the killing of small beings, so they take their meals before the sunset. Water is a physiological necessity for all living beings but is a limiting factor primarily for land organisms. The amount of rain fall, its seasonal distribution, the humidity and the ground supply of water are some of the limiting factors in the distribution of Jaina Sanghas, Ganas, Gacchas, etc., for instance, it is a limiting factor for Jaina Sangha in West Bengal, East Bengal and Assam because of too much of the rainfall there.
Although the Marudesa-Sanghas of Rajasthan can escape the high temperature and low humidity by retreating to the Upāśrayas, the Marudesa-Sravakas must stay on the surface of their regions and had to evolve some agro-economic and mechanical structures to prevent water loss and to resist high temperature. Knowledge of the limits of water tolerance can be used by the Jaina monks to regulate their monastic life. 68 The Jaina Sanghas or Ganas or Gachcas, e.g. 84 Gacchas and others, died out
because of narrow range of tolerance and other factors. 64 e.g., Tapagaccha is still flourshing with vision of much broader limits and other
factors.
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