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648
The Unknown Pilgrims
who have a bhāva-stri to men with a bhāva-purusa. There would then be unions between persons of the same sex.
- This must be well-emphasised: on account of their nudity, sunis always risk feeling an attraction for women and this is why the Agamas have decreed that these latter should be clothed. The reverse also is true and the same rule ought to be observed by the munis, for the nudity of men may also be a cause of excitment for women. Hence to deny the possibility of Liberation to women on account of their clothing is another invalid argument and there are no grounds for speaking of their lesser capacity for samyama or for affirming that they can reach no further than the fisih of the fourteen guṇasthānas.
- It is certain that what matters is the bhāva-veda, while the dravya-veda is secondary. Now a secondary reason is never an obstacle to an authentic proof. Therefore, there is no wellestablished and convincing rcason to exclude womankind from Liberation on account of her physical constitution. Women have exactly the same right to Liberation as men and there is no text in the Agamas that teaches that womankind has less aptitude for Liberation; this is the truth.
2. The arguments of Ratnaprabhāsūri 42
- Like the author of the Strimuktiprakaraņa, this ācārya presents a refutation that is both consistent and, furthermore, on similar lines - it could not be otherwise - but with a few slightly different emphases:
- It is said that a woman cannot be liberated because, like the eunuch, she is weaker than a man, she is inferior to him. Now, what are the causes of her "incapacity"? Not that she cannot realise the Three Jewels, for she is quite capable of doing so.
42 A Śvetāmbara muni of the XIlth c; his arguments, of which we give here only a brief resume, are to be found in Part III of his work, the Ratnākarāvatārikā, in a passage entitled: "Strimuktidveșiņaṁ digambarāņaṁ khandanam" or: Refutation of the Digambara hostility towards the Liberation of womankind."
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