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The Unknown Pilgrims
Those who are attracted by their example or touched by their words can respond only by promising them to fast, to purify their life and their intentions, to be honest, give to the poor and to be faithful to the aņuvratas and to the practice of pratikramaņa. This veneration for a holy person involves, if it is to be sincere, a look within, a desire for purification, some practical resolutions concerning one's own life.
The following selection presents a certain variety as regards the historical setting, place of origin, social milieu, gacchas and sampradāyas to which these sädhvis belonged. As regards their dates of birth, the period which is of interest to us goes from 1858 up to our own day. The majority of them ara natives of Rājasthāna, the rest are from Gujarāta, Madhya Pradeśa and Dilli. They belong to all the sampradāyas of the Svetāmbaras and to their two principal gacchas. As to their family background, we may note that out of eleven sādhvis: - three were young childless widows; - one was a widow of mature years who reared her children before embracing the ascetic life; - two left their husbands in order to receive dikşā; - two were the daughters of widows who followed their mother and received dikșă with her; - two received dikşā as young girls and were neither widows nor orphans; - one received dikṣā as an adolescent; - three of them, originally of Hindu families, embraced the Jaina dharma.
The first three sections and the fifth each give a resumé of a particular biography.? The fourth section is not based on a biography
However, they do suggest to the śrävakas institutions and other beneficiaries suitable for their offerings.
6 Biographies of sadhvis are still very few and far between and it took me several years to discover the 11 biographies mentioned here. It must be stressed that each community is part of a closed group, which usually knows nothing of the publications of another community. 7 The titles of these sections are those of the original biographies.
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