________________
Society, Epistemology and Logic in Indian Tradition
18
Organisation of the Tirtha
Mahāvīra did not propose any profession-based social organization, but like other tīrthankaras he propounded fourfold (caturvidha) ford (tīrtha or sangha) for the followers. As mentioned in the Vyākhyāprajñaptisūtra:
“Tīrtha comprises four categories of sangha-monks (śramaņa) nuns (śramaņi) laity (śrāvaka) and female laity (śrāvikā). "37
The tīrtha is a religious organisation, which is meant for performing religious practice(sādhanā) for the attainment of salvation, but there are also some rules for mutual behavior amongst sanghas.
There are some stern provisions and codes of conduct for the mutual behaviour of monks (samaņa or sadhu) and nuns (samaņi or sādhvi). Four Chedasūtras explain these rules elaborately. How a sādhu should behave with his ācārya and other colleagues, with sādhvis, śrāvakas and śrāvikas has been also propounded in the canonical literature.” Observing the five mahāvratas, fivefold self-regulation (samiti) and threefold selfcontrol (gupti), a Jaina monk or nun should take care to avoid improper conducts. For example a sādhu should not stop to talk to a sādhvī at cross roads and when alone. Sādhus and sādhvis cannot live together in their living places. Even they cannot do meditation (kāyotsarga) in one another's places. These
»VP: 20.8: tittham puna cāuvvannāinne samaņa-sanghe panntte, tañjahā-samaņā,
samaņio, sāvagā, savigāo. 38 The four Chedasūtras are: Dasāśrutaskandha, Brhatkalpa, Vyavahāra and
Nisitha. 39 UttI & BK explain it at many places.
