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The Homeless Ones
shelter suitable for the sadhvis and on the necessity of having at least a cilimilikă, a curtain, where there is no door to the room.51
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An upăśraya belongs to the local samgha and is maintained by the śrāvakas and śravikās. The Mürtipujakas and Sthānakavāsis have upăśrayas, while the Terapanthis do not. These refuges present a certain variety of features, in accordance with the locality where they are situated and the importance numerically of the samgha. In certain large Jaina centres such as Ahmadābād there are upäśrayas exclusively for sadhvis, while in other localities there is one upäśraya only for all comers and, if a group of munis passes by when the sadhvis are in residence, the śravakas offer another dwelling to the munis. Quite frequently, the same building includes at least one room on the ground floor for śrāvakas and śrāvikās, which is used for meetings and as a place of retreat for spiritual purposes and in which munis and sadhvis give their courses of instruction. On the first or second floor rooms are reserved for munis or sadhvis in transit, if these do not have their own separate upāśrayas.
Among the Mūrtipūjakas, the upāśraya is often one of the appendages of the temple; sometimes, also, it forms part of a larger complex along with a dharmaśālā for the reception of travelling śrāvakas. The proximity of the temple, the place of worship, fosters spiritual endeavour. The whole compound constitutes a small and autonomous religious city. A local committee deals with the administration of it, while a secretary has there a permanent office and a watchman patrols the place night and day.
The Sthanakavasis have a similar administrative system, but as they do not have temples the buildings are less imposing.
Jain Education International
To return, however, to the upăśraya, the refuge or shelter of sādhvis on pilgrimage; whatever its outer appearance, whether it is a simple building or part of the outhouses of a temple, its function and organisation are always the same. An upāśraya usually consists of several rooms, though it is not always in sufficiently secluded spot.
51 Cf, BrkS I, 14-15; 19; P 534 ff. for the various rules relating to upāśrayas.
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