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Their Ascetics: 205 plucked and as only possessions a peacock feathers broom and a pail. Contrary to Digambara monks, they generally wear also a shawl and a modest white linen bundle on their shoulder or hooked to their belt. They rarely wander alone. Most of the time, they walk in pairs or in groups with a rod (danda) as support and to drive away snakes or intruders.
Śvetambara monks (sādhu, muni, bhiksu, samaņa) and Śvetambara nuns (sādhvī, satī, bhikṣuņi, samani) always wear white robes. Most of them have a "muhapatti" in front of the mouth. They have also a broom, a pail, a bundle containing various objects like bowl, to collect food and drink, paper, pencil, sacred book, etc. and a stick to help them to walk if they are old.
During the four months of the monsoon (caturmāsa) in India, Jain ascetics fearing to hurt or kill in walking small animals and numerous insects on the roads during that period, rest in special shelters (upāśraya), different according to the obedience, where monks and nuns live totally separate. Outside monsoon period, Jain monks and nuns practice wandering (vihāra), from place to place, according to instructions received from their "guru" or their "Acarya", to show they are not attached to a fixed site and they try to never call somebody's attention to them. Likewise, one never sees any Jain ascetic taking part in the great Hindu gatherings, like "kumbha mela" or other exhibitions.
Now we have seen how to identify Jain ascetics, we will look at their main reasons for entering in an order of monks or nuns, the conditions they need to fulfil and their rite of initiation or ordination (dikṣā). Next, we will try to resume the hard rules they have to observe, harsher yet for the Digambara than for the Svetambara. Lastly, we will report briefly their timetable and how they face death.
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