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Uposatha and Posaha in the Early Histories of Jainism......
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Proșadha: a Śrāvaka observance The above citation from the oldest strata of the Jaina Āgama clearly makes the posaha a layperson's observance. Modern iterations of posaha also indicate that it is a lay holiday. Is there any evidence to indicate that, at any point in time, the posaha was observed in some wayby renunciate members of the Jaina tīrthas?
To date, I have not identified any scriptural sources which portray renunciate participation in posaha. Earlier I alluded to Schonthal's proposal, based on Deo (1956, 153) that on the posaha monks recited their vows in a fashion similar to the Buddhist prātimokşa, but that portion of Deo only mentions the monastic pratikramaņa, and that it can take place fortnightly. That fortnightly recitation mostly likely did take place on the same dates assigned for the posaha, and there is even some evidence to suggest that monks sometimes made confessions using laity as confessors (Caillat 1973, 126), but nowhere do we find any use of the word posaha in this context, nor any indication that this was thought of as part of the posaha. On the other hand, we have abundant direct and indirect evidence from several different periods of Jaina literary history that householders should observe the posaha.
The Ratnakarandaśrāvakācāra is one of the earliest Jaina texts, dating to 2nd c. CE, and is also remarkable for being one of the few documents accepted by both Digambara and Śvetāmbara authorities. Locating a description of the posaha there already serves to show that it was a lay observance, since the text teaches the path of conduct proper to householders. When the RKŚ says that the practitioner should abandon perfume, flowers, and other adornments, as well as bathing, in addition to food restrictions, it can only be speaking of householders, because these have already been forbidden for monks and nuns. Similarly, when it takes the fast of the posaha to mean only eating once’, it would make little sense to prescribe such restrictions for monks and nuns who are already restricted to a single daily meal.
