Women Ascetics in Jaina Tradition

Introduction

Jainism is a non-vedic, śramanic religion, which denies the existence of a creator God and instead, accepts the authority of its own āgamas. The ideas and practices expounded by the Tīrthaṅkaras were continuously preached and developed by the ascetics of the Jaina tradition; and asceticism and renunciation have been the hallmark of the Jaina tradition. All the Tīrthaṅkaras were believed to have established a four- fold religious community, caturvidha saṅgha, of monks, nuns and of lay-followers, male and female. The ascetic community and the laity have always lived in harmony and interdependence; and the former, who live a hard and austere life of total renunciation, has always enjoyed a superior and respectful position in Jaina society.

One of the important characteristic features of Jaina asceticism is the liberal attitude towards women who are permitted to embrace the ascetic life. They are given the full scope in matters of spiritual aspiration right from the beginning. During the period of all the Tīrthaṅkaras, women ascetics have always featured in a vital manner and have also exceeded in number the male ascetics. The ascetic practice and the codes of conduct are more or less the same for the nuns and the monks, characterized by severe mortificatory practices like fasting, putting up with all sorts of bodily troubles by complete indifference to it.

The women monastic tradition in Jainism is the most ancient in the history of monasticism throughout the world, which is exclusively Indian. Although it has been affected by historical circumstances and has undergone some modifications in the course of the centuries, it has remained surprisingly the same. The Jaina nuns were very numerous in the past and still number almost ten thousand. Most are in the Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharastra and Punjab regions, but one comes across them on all the main roads. It is a unique monastic tradition in India, for the other, Hindu religious traditions has no female monasticism. There have been a few isolated cases of holy women leading an ascetical life, but not a monastic tradition. The Buddhist nuns began at a later period than the Jaina nuns; they quickly disappeared from India, and the original tradition was considerably modified according to time and place.

An encounter with these ascetics arouses in us a desire to discover a little of their history, the essence of their doctrine and their way of life. To what epoch does this community of women ascetics trace its beginnings? This question has no easy answer, for the origins of the Jaina dharma – which is probably exceedingly ancient - are little known. According to tradition there was, under the twenty-third Tīrthaṅkara, Pārśvanātha (8th. Century B.C.) a noteworthy community of women with Puṣpacula at its head. We know that the twenty-fourth Tīrthaṅkara , Mahāvīra (second half of the 6th. century until the beginning of the 5th. Century B.C.), whose teaching is preserved in the āgamas (Scriptures), had a very liberal attitude towards women and permitted them to embrace the ascetic life. He was an innovator in this respect, for Hindus had never evidenced such a liberal attitude and the Buddha himself, though he was persuaded to accept women in his community, did so only with certain reluctance. Tradition recounts the life of several women disciples of Mahāvīra – former princesses in almost every case - including that of their spiritual Mother, Candana.

Whatever their doctrinal differences may be, all these ascetics have this in common: their life in essentially an itinerant one, grounded in samāyika (avoidance of all blameworthy action) and in ahiṅsā (abstinence from all injurious activity). Who, then, are these pilgrims who are always on the march. Scripture and certain later texts describe them in words that give clear indication of their spiritual way and their conditions of life. They are nirgranthis (free from attachments), aṇagāris (without a home), bhikṣunis (ones who beg for their daily food, their lodging and their clothing), śramanis (those whose daily toil is to detach themselves from every form of possession; therein lies their sole task and they perform no other activity). They are also called yatinis (those who make strenuous efforts, are vigilant), sādhvis (virtuous, chaste), satis or mahāsatis (of genuine and proven virtue), āryas or āryikas (worthy of respect and esteem). Their basic monastic lives proceed along the same lines embodying the Pañcamahāvratas (the five great ascetic vows) and other ascetic practices. The life of the Jaina woman ascetic is essentially an itinerant one, and correspondingly one of total detachment. The main objectives are of those ahiṅsā, aparigraha and bramhacarya, along with several subsidiary principles and norms relating to self-control through bodily mortifications. The main principles are followed to the farthest extent in their daily practices like refraining from cooking, and thus begging for their sustenance (gocari); not partaking of food and water after sunset; not using modern urinals and toilets (though some sects have started using them in city life); not bathing, nor brushing teeth; not using, electricity; not consuming raw vegetables, fruits, water.

The Jaina woman ascetics are seen as articulate and vital representatives of the religious order; and the laity considers interaction with them a great honour. This age old practice of gocari followed by the sādhvis induces a significant bounding between themselves and those who feel privileged to be able to provide the rudiments of worldly sustenance to them in exchange of a consistent and continuous flow of spiritual sustenance.

The motivations for joining the ascetic life can be varied. In Jainism a high premium is given to the very idea of renunciation and the ascetic life as the path of salvation, especially in the upbringing of the female child. This philosophy thus becomes deeply ingrained and is augmented through regular exposures to the discourses of contemporary, itinerant ascetics of both sects. The moment comes when a young girl, without any overt pressure, may quite simply slip into the mental frame of a vairāgan (the potential women ascetic) and thus measure her prospects for a destiny of asceticism that simultaneously opens up various other avenues as well. There are avenues like higher education; a wider parameter of functioning than that faced by a married woman; social respectability in the context of young and old alike; a dynamic alternative to a materialistic way of life, etc. It is significant to note that the motivations and reasons for a woman to join the ranks of the sādhvis are normally more positive than negative. That is, motivations is not usually based on poverty or old age or social marginality; but rather on the volitional desire to explore a better, more dynamic way of life that is founded on an age-old faith of non-violence. Ninety per cent of women initiates are therefore unmarried women. Some belong to highly rich and cultured families; some have a large number of ascetic antecedents - e.g. sisters, brothers, parents, as well as other kin joining together or one following the other. The idea of motivation for the ascetic life joins the ground for identification between the sādhvis and the laywomen, because they both belong to the same contexts and only a thin line separates them.

The woman ascetics, the sādhvis or the āryikas, who have renounced their personal materialistic, desires so as to achieve a common goal of lasting peace-, is worthy to be given a very special place. Because it is on her gentle yet energetic shoulders that rests the hope of humanizing a society that has forgotten to be self-reliant in the real spiritual sense, despite its economic and political power. Perhaps, no less worthily than the Tīrthaṅkara, the sādhvi assists the true Jaina believer to ford the river of life without asking for anything in return, except, perhaps, his upholding of the spirit of ahimsa all times.

Topics to be discussed during interactive session:

• Social role and significance of woman ascetics.
• Deviancy and Innovations: Modifications in some Groups.
• Contemporary woman ascetics in both the traditions.
• Characteristics features and ascetic practices.
• Birth of a woman ascetic: Diksha ceremonies.

Suggested Reading

• Babb, Lawrence A. 1998. Ascetics and Kings in a Jain Ritual Culture. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
  
• Caillat, C. 1975. Atonements in The Ancient Ritual of the Jain Monks. Ahmedabad: L. D. Institute.
  
• Chakraborti, H. 1973. Asceticism in Ancient India. Calcutta: Punthi Pustak.
  
• Cort, John E. 1991. “The Svetambar Murtipujak Jain Mendicant”, in Man, (N.S.) 26:651-671.
  
• Deo, S. B. 1956. The History of Jaina Monachism From Inscriptions and Literature. Poona: Deccan College.
  
• Desai, Kumarpal. 1987. “Women in Jainism” in N. K. Singhi, Ideal, Ideology and Practice. Jaipur: Printwell Publisher.
  
• Dumont, Louis. 1970. “World Renunciation in Indian Religion” in Louis Dumont, Religion,Politics and History in India. Paris: Mouton.
  
• Jaini, Padmanabh S. 1992. Gender and Salvation: Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Liberation of Women. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.
  
• King, Ursula (ed.). 1995. Religion and Gender. Oxford: Blackwell.
  
• Ramaswamy, Vijaya. 1997. Walking Naked: Women, Society, Spirituality in South India. Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study.
  
• Shanta, N. 1985. “Women Ascetics in the Jama tradition”. La Voie Jaina, Paris, O.E.I.L., pp. 1-19.
  
• Shanta, N. 1997. The Unknown Pilgrims: The Voice of Sadhvis: The History, Spirituality and Life of the Jaina Women Ascetics. (Translated from French by Mary Rogers). Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications. (French title: La voice jaina, 1985).
  
• Thomas, P. 1964. “Ancient Jain Texts on Women” in Indian Women thought Ages. Asia Pub. House, pp. 102-117.