Jaina System of Education

Author(s): Debendra Chandra Das Gupta
Publisher: Bharti Mahavidyalaya

Page 61

LECTURE V
47
'I believe, veneiable sır, in the Doctrine of the Nigganthas (and so forth, down to) I have stood for that
"She went to her parents, and having folded her hands she asked their permission exactly as in the case of Jamalı in Bhagavatısūtra after dinner he consented to the renunciation of his daughter ”42 Then followed the formal admission of Bhuya into the Order “Then that gırl Bhuya, being thus spoken to by the Lord Pārswa and becoming greatly delighted in the presence of Pupphachula nuns (and so forth, down to) become a self-restrained nun "43 As in the Jaina monasteries it was also customary for the nuns to study regularly, "and wherever she spread her bed or seat for study she first of all sprinkled that place with water ?44 The case of Bhuya suggests two fundamental facts (1) First, like the Buddhist monastery co-education was practised in the Jaina monastery where sermon could be attended by the males and the females alike, and (2) Second, vehicles played an important role in the dissemination of Jaina culture and faith among the people
Benares, the sacred city was an abode of cosinopolitan culture Here the followers of different and even conflicting creeds met together and lived in a spirit of amity and concord The Hindus, the Buddhists and the Jains were there The Jainas had their monasteries and nunneries in this sacred city flourishing side by side with the temples of the Hindus and the Vihāras of the Buddhists We leain that the Suvaya nuns living at Benai es used to beg their food from all classes of citizens -the high, the middle and the poor The nun Soma studied the eleven Angas such as Sãmaiya and others under the Suvaya nuns 45
Jaina nunneries existed at Sākelapuia, Kammasadhamma in Kuru kingdom, Bāravaī (Dvārakā), Polāspura, and at other centres
The Jaina nunneries served as places of relief and shelter to many a distressed lady in the high rank of life Thus it is on record that a Widowed princess of a local royal household sought shelter in the nunnery of Srāvastī against the evil design of her brother-in-law, the king of Sāketapuia 46
4: 43 45 46
The Niryâvaliyão, edited by A S Gopani, MA, PP 118-120, 1531156* Ibid, pp 121-122, 159 · PP 121-122, 159
44 Ibid, pp 118-120 Ibid, pp 118-120, 153-156. Katlākoşa, p 13