Religious Prayascittas according to old Jaina Ritual

Author(s): Collete Caillat
Publisher: Z_Mahavir_Jain_Vidyalay_Suvarna_Mahotsav_Granth_Part_1_012002.pdf and Mahavir_Jain_Vidyalay_Suvarna_

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THE RELIGIOUS' PRAYAŚCITTAS : 109
Elsewhere, though, commentaries fix, as a substitute for the parihāra, the eighth payacchitta, the "radical” suppression of seniority (müla, VavBh 1, 320 b; Ţ III 11 b).
Before prescribing the parihāra, the guru must make sure that the penitent is physically, intellectually, spiritually, apt to perform it.105 The VavBh T state that it should be executed only during the rains, so that it may be milder : 106
gimhäņam āvanno, causu vi vasa'su denti āyariya (VavBh 2, 364 a).
Moreover, the penitent should never be left alone : 107 he should stay in places where he can eventually get ready help, especially from another gīyattha: thus, thanks to various disposals, this rigorous penance is softened in actual practice.
The parihara is either "cumulated” (samcayita, sic!), or not (asamcayita). Though it can be further mitigated, the asamcayita parihära theoretically lasted as many months as the penalty that the religious has incurred.
The samcayita parihara is prescribed when the culprit has, in fact, incurred more than six months atonement: from seven at the least to 180 at the most. They are reduced to six, which is the maximum of parihara according to Mahāvīra's Doctrine (VavȚ III 1 b).
Each of these two types is "liable to abatement” or not (ugghaiya anugghāiya, -ima; (an) udghātika), or, as the commentaries prefer to say, is either "light", or "heavy" (la (g) hu; guru).108 The weight of the penance depends on two factors, time (kāla) and austerities (tapas). 109
The samcayita is meant to redeem several offences at the same time. Its total duration is obtained after two operations, which are not detailed if the culprit is gītārtha or vikovida, or even pariņāmaka. They are the sthāpanā (thavanā) "carrying forward", and aropaņā (arovaņā) " addition". Taken together, these two operations constitute the samcaya 110
105 VavBh 1, 350 = NisBh 6 584; T III 28 b. 106 However, see Deo, History 155 for the commentaries of Viyāh.
and Thān. 107 ekākinaś ca satah parihāratapo na nirvahati, VavȚ IV 22 b 7 108 Doctrine 162. 109 VavȚ IV 25 b 2 ff.; K p. 14 n. 1. 110 Cf. VavŢ II 58 b.