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410
The Unknown Pilgrims
the sādhvis' duty to observe them. These rules are simply guides for both personal and community life. Some discipline must surely be followed, because, for the ascetic, negligence and carelessness are imajor hindrances which drag her on the road to perdition. In the long run, however, as the ascetic is gradually confirmed in the way of the vitarāgas, so, correspondingly, the rules are left behind. The major Sūtras which all sãdhvis know by heart - not by a mechanical
ion of the words but by the putting of these same words into practice in their lives - are: the Daśavaikālika and the Uttarādi nyayana and, in addition, the Acāränga for those who are permitted to read and study the Āgamas. 5 This Part, which presents the life of contemporary sādhvis, relies chiefly on these three Sūtras, though it gives some references also to the Sūtrakstānga, the Sthānānga and the Avaśyaka which is only concerned with the daily rite, not with the rules.
rep.
Here we must say a few words on the subject of the Cheda-Sutras; they contain highly repetitive lists of rules which follow no sytematic order, exceptions to these rules and various sorts of penance to be performed in cases of their infringement. These Sūtras add nothing, as regards the path to be followed, to the Daśavaikālika, the Uttarădhyayana and the Acārānga. As we are interested both in the basic principles of Jaina asceticism and in the life-style of contemporary sādhvis, we refer fairly frequently to the Cheda-Sūtras, at least in regard to what is still surviving vigorously in our day and we introduce them briefly in the section which deals with expiatory rites. 7 We must add, for it is an important point, that the Tapāgaccha sādhvis are forbidden to read these Sūtras and that the other sãdhvis, generally
5 Apart from the DS and the US, the Tapāgaccha sādhvis, who make up more than half of the total number of sadhvis, can, as a general rule, only study certain other Sūtras by special permission of the acārya and in conjunction with certain forms of abstinence. The majority of them know personally only the DS and the US. With regard to the other Sūtras, what they do know of them they have learnt by listening to munis' pravacanas and also through literature in the local language.
6 Cf. P 313 ff. for the teaching on obligations and Part IV for the rite.
? For these rules, exceptions and penances, of which quite a lot are not observed nowadays, cf. Deo, 1960.
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