Book Title: Jaina Monastic Jurisprudence
Author(s): Shantaram Balchandra Dev
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown

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Page 62
________________ 44 S. B. DEO AUT qofTTEOCT (p. 78). The Chedasūtras often refer to ‘santară cheya' which pertains to the scale of the gradual increase in the cut in paryāya if another transgression is committed while undergoing punishment for a previous fault. Another and most remarkable feature is that the period of cut in paryāya increased the more, the higher the status of the person in the hierarchy. Thus whereas in the case of a monk the minimum cut was five days, in the case of an upadhyāya it was ten and for an ācārya it was fifteen days. It was in the fitness of things that it was so resolved; for if those who knew the laws and were supposed to be the custodians of it, broke the rules of monastic conduct, then no ideal would have been left before the subordinates. Another term connected with monastic jurisprudence is 'parihāra'. This occurs for the first time in the Thānanga (p. 167b) and Bhagavati Suttas (348b, 893b, 909a, ff.), and has been amplified in the Cheyasuttas. The parihāra-visuddhi or the purification of the transgressor by means of penance in isolation, cut off from other members of the group, lasted for one, four or six months. This parihāra punishment is qualified either as ugghāiya' or 'uņugghāiya' and has often been referred to in the texts of the Chedasūtras. SCHUBRING opines that these expressions possibly denote the period in which the punishment is softened in between the different periods of expiation or the period between the declaring of the punishment and its execution (Vavahāra und Nisiha-Sutta: Leipzig, 1918, pp. 9-10). The undergoing of 'parihāra' involved the practice of different kinds of fasting for a maximum period of six months. The fasts were so arranged as to suit the different seasons. For instance, in summer, fasting from the 4th to the 8th meal was prescribed, whereas in the rainy season it varied between the 8th and the 12th meal and in winter it ranged between the sixth and the tenth meal. (Thān. pp. 168ab). In a group of monks, the fasting was under Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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