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The Jainas arc thus distinguished from the bralunanical tradition by their rejection of the sacredness of food, of sacrificial mcat, but also of ghçc and, by extension, rejection of the cow as a sacred animal. They are distinguished from Ulic Buddhists by their emphatic adherence to the practicc of fasting as a primary component of their spiritual path. Refraining from food for a period of time is not altogether unknown to the bralunanical scriptures. The Manusmrti prescribes fasting as a form of expiation for certain transgressions cspecially by members of the braliman castc." The Purāṇic literature is also full of stories like uial of Viśvāmita whose ycars of fasting were rendered sutilc by thic capriccs of gods, jealous of the sage's superior yogic powers. But thcsc arc, for Uic most part, legends and arc not narralcd to persuade thic Hindu laity to imilate the sage by similar fasting. In the case of the Jainas, however, fasting by their teacher Mahāvīra seems to have left an indelible mark on their consciousness, making it the most important feature of Jaina lapas. This is demonstrated by the fact that a great many Jaina laymend women of all ages undertake sasting on a regular basis and consider it thc singular mark by which their community can be distinguished from that of the bralunanical society. Remarkable still is die most holy Jaina practice of salleklanā which permits certain advanced Jaina mendicants to adopt total sasting as a legitimate way-in fact the only permissible way of choosing death in the face of terminal illness. 12
Thc Jaina emphasis on sasting Uius invites an examination of dicir attitude lo food and thic rcasons for dicir belich in thc cfficacy of lasting as a mcans of allaining moksa. Probably thic Jaina doctrine of the matcrial (paudgaliku) nature of karma capable of producing impure transformation (vibhāvapariņāma) of the soul (jīva) is at the root of this belics. It is well known thal in Jainisin karmic bondage is seen as an accumulation of an extremely subtlc form of sloating 'dust' which clings to the soul when the latter is overcomic, moistened, as it were, by desire and other passions. These desires (present in all souls from beginningless time) in Vieir most subtle for are called sanjñās, a term which may be tentatively translaled as 'instincts'. The Jaina texts cnumcrate four such samjižās universally found in all forms of lisc including the vegetable kingdom. Craving for food (älāra-samjñā) is die most primary of uiesc instincts. No being other than the libcratcd soul is excmpt from it. This desire for food sets up competition between onc living
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