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554
The Unknown Pilgrims
grantha is the task of the sādhvi author; all the selling of the book, is the affair of the saṁgha. It is of small importance in what place or successive places the sădhvi does her writing; when the moment comes, a śrāvaka or a śrāvikā or a group of them takes charge of all the practical questions. For a samgha it is accounted a joy and an honour when a sādhvi writes a worthwhile book. 76 In this category of dharma-granthas are also included articles and contributions of sādhvis, regular or less regular, 10 a montly revue, the mouthpiece of their gaccha, and also collections of pravacanas.
Unquestionably, the itinerant life does not lend itself to authorship.77 The period of the paryusaņā is more favourable, but then there are pravacanas to give and visitors to receive, to each of which one must be readily available. Furthermore, fasting, even though it resines the spirit and is instrumental in its awakening, can also lessen a person's physical resistance. Finally, this period is very short. Moreover, it is necessary to be able to consult documents and have access to librarics.
Jivana-caritras: Biographies
We are referring here to biographies of sādhvis. These are as yet rare and it takes a long time to discover them.78 Most of them narrate the life of a pravartini or guruņi and are written by a sādhvi disciple or by a śrāvikā. Others describe the extraordinary spiritual achievement of some sādhvi. The majority of these biographies are written after their heroine's Departure, though a few are still alive. These biographies, written as they are unaffectedly and with great devotion
76 It is impossible here to go fully into the content, structure, and style of some of the dharma-granthas, this being the task of a critical and thus specialised study; cf. Appendix I.
77 Sadhvi Rājimati told me it took her several years to produce her book: Yoga ki prathama kirana, the 1st vol. of a series on Yoga; she possesses t documents for the other vols., but would need several months of stability to complete the task; cf. Appendix I.
78 Cf. ch.6.
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