Life in Ancient India as Depicted in Jain Canons

SR No.: 011077
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jagdishchandra Jain
Publisher: New Book Company
Publication Year: 1947
Total Pages: 429
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 16 MB

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POSITION OF WOMEN
asked her brothers to protect their sister. Now Sukumaliya began to live with her brothers who used to go out begging by turns. As both were adepts in the art of fighting, if anybody dared to enter their residence, they thrashed him and brought him to his senses."7
We have instances when the nuns were lured by the householders.98 Sometimes they were raped by force. It is laid down that under such circumstances a nun should immediately inform her teacher. It is stated that, even if a nun gets pregnant, she should not be turned out from the Sangha, but the offender must be punished. It is said that if nobody knew of her pregnancy, the nun should be kept in the house of a šravaka. If it is revealed, the nun should be kept in the upasraya and must not be sent out for alms. If some people made remarks, they must be told that she could not be abondoned in such conditions. Anyhow the nun should be defended by citing examples of Kesi and Satyaki who were born of nuns without being guilty, and should be looked after properly.90
There are examples when the nuns were abducted. We have seen how king Gaddabhilla abducted the sister-nun of Kalakācārya, which resulted in his destruction. We are told of a Buddhist merchant of Bharuyaccha who took the garb of a Jain layman and invited the nuns under the pretext of offering them alms. The merchant asked the nuns to enter his ship to pay a visit to the Jain temples and as soon as they stepped in he set the ship in motion.100 There was also trouble from the robbers. We are told that once some robbers joined with the Bodhiya Mlecchas and carried off the nuns.101 Sometimes the robbers carried away the clothes ofthe nuns. It is laid down that under such circumstances the nun should cover their private parts with skin, vegetable leaves, darbha grass, or with their own hands,108
LOVE AFFAIRS AND FEMALE ASCETICS
Jain texts mention a number of Parivvaiyas108 who carried lovemessages and acted as go-between the lovers. The Uttaradhyayana
BT 1bid 4 5251-5259, cf Kundla Jataka (No 530), V, pp 424-8.
08 Brh Bhā 1 2670-2; cf. Therigatha (139-144) where the nun Khema is invited to enjoy sensual pleasures.
99 Brh Bha 3 4128-39 Here the five ways are mentioned which could cause pregnancy without sexual intercourse (a) if a woman sat without cover at the place where a man had discharged semen which could cause pregnancy, (b) if a person desirous of a son introduces semen in her vagina, (c) if the same thing is done by her father-inlaw, (d) if the semen was sticking to some cloth that was used to cover vagina to stop the flow of menstrual blood and (e) drinking of water mixed with semen could cause pregnancy (bid 4139) Cf the Matanga Jataka (IV No 497) p. 378 where the Matanga touched his thumb to the navel of his wife and she conceived, also Vinaya 1, p. 205 f, also Dhammapada A III, p 145 In Buddhist literature we hear of the nun Uppalavanna, who was raped by a young brahmacarin in the grove of Andhavana in Sävitthi, and it is said that from that time nuns did not live in Andhavana (ibid, II, pp 49, 52) Brh Bha 1. 2054.
100
101
Vya Bha 7. 418 109 Brh Bha. 1. 2986, Nisi. cu 5, p 407
103 In the Dasakumaracarita (p. 168) the nun named Arhantika or Nirgranthika plays a part of go-between, See Bloomfield False ascetics and nuns in Hindu Fiction, J. A. O. S., Vol. 44, p. 238 f; also Kathasaritsagara, Vol. VII, ch. cl. p. 138 f.