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494
The Unknown Pilgrims
In actual fact this prohibition and the rigid outlook it illustrates are scarcely justifiable and emanate chiefly from the ācāryas. It is enough, they think, that the sadhvis should have renounced all and should be acquainted with the principal rules of conduct. Af for the Cheda-sutras which deal in detail with the possible infringements of these rules and with the prayaścittas, forms of expiation and reparation, the Tapagaccha sadhvis are strictly forbidden to read them, for, as one muni said: "That would give them bad thoughts, along with a notion of possible faults of which at present they are ignorant and that would do them harm." This opinion cannot be said to be well-founded, for the Sthanakavāsi and Terapanthi sadhvis who read and study with discernment these same Sūtras are quite as fervent as the Tapagaccha sadhvis.71 To say, as one sadhvi did: "As the ācāryas know the Cheda-sūtras, that is sufficient" is not a convincing reply; at the most this subservience imparts to them a certain security. It is laid down, moreover, that the ascetics must always be in the company of someone who knows the Agamas.72 Does this mean, however, that it is reckoned to suffice for the sädhvis to be in the proximity of an acārya or a muni?
b) Adhyayana: General studies
The question here is of study, or reading, in a more general sense. For the sadhvis, study of this kind has usually a bearing upon what can contribute to svādhyāya, namely, study of the doctrine, of Jaina philosophy and that of other systems,73 study of Sanskrit and Prakrit, and literary studies. In many of the groups sådhvis study for examinations in these subjects, certain ones receiving help from a
71 It must be emphasised that the sadhvis need to have reached a certain maturity and also to be guided in this type of reading, which is in fact precisely the role of the guruni and senior sädhvis.
72 Cf. VS VI, 12-14.
73 Mahasati Mohanadevi studied jyotiṣa-śästra, astrology; cf. Hukamadevi, p. 86.
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