Chapter VI. Some Concluding Thoughts
In the concluding chapter, we re-visit the original question with which we began this
thesis: what is the secret of these large numbers of female ascetics in Jain mendicant
orders? Having surveyed the gender ideology as it is exhibited in its various code
books, literary geJ:l.tes and popular narratives, having examined its internal
organization, listened to the voices of the sadhvis, and observed the daily lives of
these n'\}ns, several issues may be identified as decisive to the explanation of this
. phenomenon. The interviews with sadhvis illustrate that women (or girls) take diksha
wholly volitionally; that pressure of impoverished parents or lack of marriage
prospects are not what draws these women into asceticism. It is crucial therefore to
attend to the discourses and practices of Jain asceticism in order to understand its
attraction for young unmarried women-for that is precisely the profile of women
who enter Jain ascetic orders.
As pointed out early, Jainism does not stigmatize female renunciation. The Jain
female ascetic does not stand on the shadowy margins of her tradition, but rather at
its very heart. Ideologically, there is no taboo on female renunciation among the
Shvetambars; Digambars too grant her the right to undertake austerities in order to
'improve' her birth. The recognition of female ascetics as one of the four pillars of
the Jain tirtha 'normalizes' her presence and thus she is not marked out as an 'oddity',
or worse, as an obstruction to renunciation, as she is in Brahmanical traditions. This
is a remarkably enabling ideal that allows women to renounce samsara and enter into
a different life without invoking suspicion or derision. The Jain theory of karma
bandhana, nitjara and moksha, and the heavy responsibility Jain theology places on the
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individual to work for one's salvation serves to legitimize their choice of an ascetic
life.
The lack of stigma-indeed the great deal of honour that attaches to a sadhvi and
her samsaric family who gave her up for the cause of J ainism-also allow a sadhvi to
attract other girls, especially from her extended family, neighbourhood and region, to
the ranks of nuns. This is clearly demonstrated by my field data: 36 of the 65 sadhvis
interviewed had close and distant female relatives in the sadhvi sangha. Kesar
maharaj, the reputed Sthanakvasi sadhvi belonging to a Jat family of Haryana has
drawn several Jat girls from the region into her parivar, such is her prestige. Sadhvis
can thus serve as role models for many younger girls: their lifestyles, comportment,
activities all stand in sharp contrast to what these girls are used to in their familial
lives, or what awaits them after marriage. To paraphrase several sadhvis, many girls
yearned to be just like the sadhvis they encountered, either in their hometown during
caturmas, or on visits to mendicants: ''When shall I be able to wear white clothes like
her? Can I not be like her? If she could win permission from my parents to become a
sadhvi, would I not be able to?" G~'s charisma and her appeal thus also become
decisive in drawing many girls to a sadhvi life. As a young girl in Bangalore, Pragiti
sri, used to visit Dr. Manju sri when she came on a chaturmas to her city. She liked
being in their company and would often visit the sthanak to borrow books or talk to
the sadhvis. She was highly impressed by Dr. Manju sri. One particular encounter
with her stirred in her the desire to renounce:
While talking one day, Manju sri asked me," What is the aim of your
life?" I was 19 at that time and had not thought along these lines at
all. I was in my own world-school, college, and friends. I thought
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that nobody has asked me this question ever before. I began to mull
over it. Then I began to think that I like these sadhvis' life so much, I
like being with them. It is a good life but very difficult. But if we
choose an aim for ourselves than nothing is difficult.
Renunciation opens a world of possibilities for these women that would otherwise
be unavailable to them in households. We have seen in Chapter IV that ascetic life is
construed as a d9main of autonomy, perhaps best encapsulated in Khartar Gacch
sadhvi Kavyaprabha sri's assertion that "we want to live independent lives. Just like
Mira." Only an ascetic life can ensure freedom, independence, unhindered pursuit of
scholarship and atma kafyana. Access to higher education is one firm indicator of the
opportunities inherent in ascetic life (see especially Chapter IV).
Asceticism is seen as a rejection of and refuge from, the demands as well as the
degradations of life in the samsara. We have seen already that implicit in nuns'
rejection of their sexuality and the institutions of marriage and family is also a
criticism of these institutions as oppressive to women and a general disaffection with
the position of women in these structures. Incompatible husbands, demanding in
laws, self-effacement are all the pitfalls of a ftma!e householders life. Asceticism then
comes to be viewed as an alternative that allows women to take on activities that
would perforce be unavailable to them as daughters, wives and mothers. This life on
the contrary affords them opportunities to undertake studies unencumbered by the
demands of domesticity, to travel widely (in the case of Terapanthi class of novices,
even overseas travel), and to take up social activities and other organizational work.
It provides a sense of self worth through private pursuit of knowledge, devotion to
their own spiritual welfare and the public roles they are called upon to play. Sadhvis
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are able to create spheres of authority and control through asceticism. When I
enquired of the nuns if they missed bearing and raising children-normative roles
into which most girls are socialized and expected to fulfil-all of them invariably
responded that they felt a sense of kinship with the wider world as they were no
longer confined to the closed circle of individual families and households. In a way, it
was expressive of the sentiment that as ascetics they have transcended the restrictive
boundaries of domestic and private sphere. And it is only through the adoption of
this alternative lifestyle that they have been able to do so. In their conservations, Jain
nuns not only emphasized the distant and difficult ideal of liberation, but also the
immediacy of the liberating experience of sqyama and sa'!)lasa:
Even though this individual project of asceticism and liberation involves the
repudiation of worldly ties and relationships, in actual practice, female mendicancy is
sustained through its association with samsara. Asceticism, despite its injunction of
itinerant life and seeking alms for food, does not translate into an adventure into the
unknown. It does not imply an end of security and protection. Unlike Dumont's
solitary renouncer, Jain female ascetics achieve their individuation in an institutional
context. The women's exit from samsaric ties simultaneously inducts them into
alternative relationships of samudqyas, gacchs and parivars, gurus, gurunis and guru
behans. All this serves to imbue asceticism with a certain familiarity. Jain nuns can
pursue their aspirations, spiritual, scholarly and personal, without having to forego
the warmth of personal relationships. Elderly nuns are cared for by their younger
shishyaas: When I recendy re-visited Jain Mahila Sthanak, Kesar maharaj had been
rendered bed-ridden. A group of nuns was living in the sthanak to nurse her. In
many other cases, younger nuns abandoned their vihara to perform seva to the older
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nuns (see Chapter V). Younger nuns look up to the seruor nuns for motherly
guidance, not only for learning tattva-gyan and Jain theology, but also turn to them for
more quotidian needs. One illustration of this mother-daughter relationship is an
incident related to me by Prafullprabha ji. She told me how her guruni, Sumangla ji
was away on a pravachana tour when she first started her menstrual periods. Unable to
understand the changes in her body, she was in a state of panic till Sumangla ji
arrived and reassure,d her. "She is like a mother to all of us," she reiterated several
times. The ascetic milieu invokes an ersatz familial setting, with its own set of roles,
duties, and relationships. At an emotional level, therefore, despite the very
individualistic nature of the ascetic project, asceticism does not portend loneliness
and alienation.
A relationship of intense reciprocity exists between mendicants and laity. Mendicants
are living embodiments of the Jain ascetic ideal and thus worthy of laity's devotion.
As we have seen, ascetics, including sadhvis are called upon to aid laity's spiritual
journey. Sadhvis on their daily rounds of gochari ask housewives if their cooking
adheres scrupulously to the Jain concept of ahimsa before accepting any food from
them: "Did you use boiled water for cooking and washing? What are the ingredients
that went into its making? Is there anything that could have led to himsa?" This daily
interrogation by sadhvis (and sadhus too when they are in the neighbourhood)
ensures that householders remain committed to the 'Jain way of life' as it were.
The institutional structures of Jain mendicancy are in turn sustained by its interaction
·' with the laity which supports and nurtures mendicancy materially and
organizationally. We have seen in Chapter V how laity is imbricated in everyday life
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of saclhvis,. and how it makes material arrangements for the saclhvi samaj. Seeking
gochari does not mean fending for oneself; vihara is not journeying to unknown lands
without direction and aid. In fact these are patterned activities and in normal
circumstances, there is very litde possibility of saclhvis having to go hungry for lack
of gochari. A young Khartar Gacch sadhvi once told me that she found gochari to be
the most difficult part of sanyasa because one had to finish everything one received
for gochari and she was always worried that she would receive far more than what she
and her fellow saclhvis could possibly eat. (The rule against leftovers derives from the
Jain belief that left over food would be a virtual playground of microbes and thus a
site of himsa). It is incumbent upon the samqj to ensure the survival and sustenance of
the sadhu and sadhvi sangha. In practical terms, vihara does not render saclhvis
vulnerable to physical and sexual threats as they are always accompanied by a
contingent of lay householders, whether paid employees of the various shravak
sanghas or otherwise. Once, four Khartar Gacch sadhvis were mowed down by a
speeding truck on the highway in Jaipur on their way to attend a function on the
occasion of Mahavira Jayanti. At one of the meetings of the Sthanakvasi sangha that
followed soon after this tragic accident, monks and nuns repeatedly reminded the
assembled samaj how they were duty bound to protect their mendicants and to
ensure· safe passage to them during vihara. "What is the samaj's thought on this?
What arrangements are shravaks making for us? Or do we have to fear accidents
every time we step on the highway?" thundered Mithilesh Muni from the podium.
This incident points to how mendicants expect the samqj to protect them, to virtually
act as their guardians. This is true for more everyday needs too. Sadhvi Sayamratna
said that she only needs to ask a 'shravak for any of her needs to be fulfilled:
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I need reading glasses, for instance. I ask shravaks just as their
daughter would, and they gift it to me, as they would their
daughter. We may have left the samsara but are still in many
ways part of it. I cannot develop an arrogant attitude and act
superior. I still rem~n their daughter.
Jain laity derives a sense of pride and confidence from the severe codes-including
complete disavowal of sexuality-of their ascetics. The need for a demonstrable
proof of the 'purity' of its ascetics has implied that a system of rules to regulate the
sexuality of its monastic community was evolved and put in place since the earliest
times. These codes regulate the interaction between sadhus and sadhvis, as well as
between female ascetics and malegrihasthas. Usually, male and female mendicants will
not stay in the same building unless absolutely necessary, and there is to be no
interaction between them after dark. As noted earlier, there can be no physical touch
even between elderly sadhvis and youngest of boys, including toddlers. These
restrictions and the very publi~ nature of their interaction (guided by these strict
codes of course) render Jain mendicants, and especially sadhvis, as models of celibate
conduct. Though scandals-and gossip-are not entirely unknown, Jain mendicancy
is viewed by samaj and girls who might wish to undertake Stf)'ama as a safe haven,
where sadhvis' chastity would be protected.
Fractured Discourses, Fractured Practices: Prestige, Dominance and Power
This said, one must not lose sight of the fact that Jainism is not a single, unified
discourse which privileges a positive evaluation of the female ascetic. The sheer
volume of textual sources pertaining to the woman's question in the Jain tradition
the ferocity of the rhetoric with which women's liberation has been debated
246
complicates the picture. Even when Shvetambar authors have defended the right of
women to seek and attain salvation, they are not contesting the Digambar attribution
of noxious qualities to women's bodies and minds. Their contention simply is that
these negative attributes do not impede women's ascetic project. We have seen also
the fashioning of special rules for disciplining and controlling female ascetics, as in
the Brihatkalpa Sutra, for authors of these early texts deemed women as essentially
libidinous and fickl~ creatures. (See Chapter III for details). Surprisingly, a section of
sadhvis echo such a gynophobia and revulsion for the female bodily processes.
Sadhvi Dininani ji for instance attributed particularly morbid features to the
menstrual cycle:
... We consider it absolutely impure. DU11ng this time we do
not read any Sutras. We even recommend complete silence. If
you utter any words during this time you accrue sins. . . . If
you are in the samsara, then you should not cook or enter the
kitchen: it kills all the food. Nurses are not allowed to enter
the operation theatre if they are bleeding: the operation may
go wrong. Even savouries and pickles may be destroyed if
prepared by women having menses. The papads may turn
red ... flowers may wilt [if tended to be women having
menses].
It may be noted that the taboo of menstrual pollution has real implications in the
lives of sadhvis. One reason why Tapa Gacch sadhvis lag behind in their access to
higher education is the heavy weight placed on the terrifying and knowledge erasing
qualities of menstrual blood. (See Chapter IV for how a sadhvi from this sect feared
that she might not be able to appear for her examinations on account of
menstruation. This dissuaded her from enrolling for a higher degree.)
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Women's supposedly inferior physical, mental and spiritual capacities are routinely
deployed as arguments for legitimizing the bias against sadhvis in the very
organization of the mendicant orders and a range of practices; vandana 'l(javahara and
male acharyaship, being two most glaring examples (see Chapter II). As noted
above, such a cw):Ural construction of female roles and activities may also be ~ ...
internalized by many sadhvis. Among Murtipujak sadhvis, there is an all-pervasive
belief that the relations of domination and subordination between the genders must
administer both the spiritual and the worldly realms alike. The current mode of
van dana 'l(javahara reflects accurately the social structures that have existed for ages.
("Would not have Bhagwan Mahavira ordained equal status for men and women if
he had deemed it correct?, asked the Tapa Gacch sadhvi Sayamratna sri) For these
nuns, the practice in its present form symbolizes the stability of the familiar world.
Its inversion-with sadhus bowing to sadhvis-would be tantamount to distortion
and perversion of the very basis and fabric of society.1 It would unfetter the sadhvis
from the authority of the male mendicants and lead to the contravention of
"maryadd'. For the maintenance of norms and preservation of honour, it was
necessary that vandana 'l(javahara remain unaltered and untouched.2 Already, according
to Mamta maharaj of the Tapa Gacch, the 'modem' woman enjoys a great many
freedoms; so much so in fact that "she has crossed all boundaries and cares no
longer for maryada. Now if she is even stops bowing to men and instead men begin
to bow to her, to pay obeisance t? her, the whole structure of society will come
unstuck."
1 Statements such as this were frequendy made by Tapa Gacch sadhvis: "Samqj mein vikar aa jqyega, web bigadjqyega." 2 Based on interviews with Sadhvi Shrutadarshita and Prafullprabha at Atmanand Jain Sabha, Roop Nagar, Delhi.
248
Once while discussing this issue, I asked a learned Khartar Gacch sadhvi in Jaipur if
sadhutva could be measured according to gender. Her reply, and indeed that of a large
number of sadhvis, was this: Till the time one attains moksha, even those who have
renounced the world to devote themselves to spiritual pursuits, continue to oper~te
within the samsara. Sadhu sangha needs to be organized (f!Javasthita) so that the
discipline of Jain dharma is not compromised; maintenance of discipline demands
that the sangha be administered according to some rules (maryada), of which vandana
f!Javahara is one. 3
How is such a fractured discourse (at once positively enabling and negatively
obstructive) and : fractured reality (simultaneously empowered and disempowered) . resolved in the subjectivities and identities of female ascetics? How do sadhvis
reconcile their own attraction towards sanyasa in light of blatandy misogynist
utterances and practices? According to Sherry Ortner, it is important to examine how
women negotiate their identities within a prestige system that values male over
female. She constructs a three-tiered system of hegemonies, all of which intersect to
determine women's actual position in a particular social structure.4 The first
dimension of differential gender positions is that of relative prestige. A prestige
system is described by Ortner as that which "defines the ultimate goals and purposes
of life for actors in that society. It defines what they are (or should be) trying to
accomplish or to become and defines how they can and cannot go about that
project." What is at stake here is a culturally coded relative ranking of sexes, and does
3 Interview at Motidungri,Jaipur. 4 Sherry B. Ortner, "Gender Hegemonies", in Cultural Critique, No. 14, Winter, 1989-1990, pp 35-80.
249
not have to do with the quality of relationship between the sexes. The second grid is
that of dominance, and describes a particular kind of relationship that inheres
between men and women, wherein men are able to exert control over women's lives
and women feel compelled to follow their authority. This domination is backed by
authority/ legitimacy ?f varying kinds and degrees. Finally, she speaks of the domain
of female power. This concept presupposes that women are able to "control some
spheres of their own and others' existence and to determine some aspects of their
and others' behaviour" regardless of the prestige system's privileging of the male,
and the overwhdming concentration of power in the hands of men.
One response of those working in the area of gender to Ortner's theoretical
formulations was to "balance. off prestige and power". This was achieved by
demonstrating that while prestige systems may be skewed in favour of men, women
could and did enjoy de facto power, such that a "power/ prestige balance between
men and women's spheres" could be envisaged. However, such a balancing may only
be half an exercise since we would be ignoring the "multiplicity of logics" of prestige
operating in a single cultural system.
Another related response by scholars of gender and religion has been to focus, if a
tad excessively, on autonomous spaces of female power in order to rehabilitate
women's voices. Anne Gold therefore draws up a typology of scholarship on gender
in South Asia, classifying Type I as those who unfailingly highlight "endemic,
systemic, unmitigated devaluation and consequent disempowerment of women at
every level. .. " Against this enterprise, she lauds the Type II scholars who portray
250
women's multiple modes of living, negotiating and imagining gender identities.5
'Resistance' and 'subversion' are terms that surface often in the writings of Type II
authors. These spheres of power are mostly cultural ventures: women's songs, stories
and words, which are seen as repositories of female agency and deployed as
'weapons of the weak' by women.
Indeed, it was suggested to me, more than once, if Jain sadhvis could be seen as a
case of 'indig<rnous feminism'.6 Could we not ask if Jain sadhvis are some kind of
home-grown feminists who forage their cultural-religious repertoire for more
enabling and empowering female roles, and find this in the role of the sadhvi-that
spheres of autonomy balanced off the misogynism inherent in Jain texts? Whilst the
female power argument is seductive, we need to pay closer attention to multiple
logics Ortner alludes to, and to the interaction between systems of prestige and
power to arrive at a more nuanced understanding of what draws these girls to
asceticism.
Let us begin by examining the prestige system among the Jains. First to be noted is,
as we have done already, its ambiguity and crisscrossing axes of male prestige and
gender equality (at least on the question of women's salvation). An important feature
5 Ann Grodzins Gold, "From Demon Aunt to Gorgeous Bride: Women Portray Female Power in a North Indian Festival Cycle," in Leslie and McGee (eds.), 2000, op. cit., p. 204. 6 Lawrence Babb raises the possibility of such a characterization in the case of the Brahma Kumari movement.6 He argues that at least one of the significant goals of the movement is the liberation of women, and views Brahma Kumaris' avowal of chastity and renunciationresulting in withdrawal of sexual rights to the husband-as an expression of a "radical and unacceptable autonomy''. Further, Babb demonstrates that the Brahma Kumari movement offered a critique of the Hindu family and of the position of women within it. But in so far as it evolved such a critique, it was rooted in the Hindu religious culture and their criticism of oppressive patriarchal institutions was tinged deeply by the ''world outlook of Hindu tradition." Babb, 1984, op. cit., p. 403.
251
of Jain prestige system is the intrinsic value attached to asceticism, bearers of which
are viewed by the cUlture as superior, venerable and worthy. This multi-layeredness
of the prestige system allows sadhvis to extract those elements from their culture
which value their renunciation and religious roles. The sadhvis' subjectivities are
forged in not simply through the gender values of its prestige system but also
through latching on to and privileging ascetic values as supreme.
The negative qualities associated with women's bodies (the ideological bedrock of
women's subordination) are transcended through the experience of asceticism. The
nuns have detached themselves from their bodies and moved onto the level of the
soul. They distinguish themselves from laywomen whose bodies and lives are
dedicated to worldly ends: marriage, birthing, childcare. Asceticism is characterized
by detaching oneself from the pains of the bodies and its substitution by the
pleasures of the soul. Pleasures of the body in the samsara are not really pleasures but
pain, which those in the samsara fail to recognize. As ascetics, they have realized how
momentary these pleasures are, and how karmically harmful they are. Nuns are
devoted only to the cause of purification of soul. As sadhvi Kavyaprabha said: "All
these worldly pleasures are ephemeral: the moon shines but for a brief while, the
nights are dark after that. We may lG>ok in the mirror and feel proud of our beauty
but ultimately we have to leave all this behind and go. So why not be prepared in
advance?"
Asceticism is a demanding ideal. Its regimen requires one, above all, to control the
body: to stop feeling cold in the severest of winter, to ignore the blazing hot tarmac
whilst walking barefoot in the hot summer months, and to disregard the visceral
252
pleasures of a good meal in favour of gochari. But, according to sadhvis, these
hardships pale in comparison to the merit one accumulates for one's soul. "We can
achieve true happiness only when we renounce the body and its desires," reiterated
sadhvi Shrutadarshita (Mamta maharaj) several times.
What we are experiencing in this ascetic life is no pain at all;
this is actually pleasure for the soul. Our body is merely a
temporary abode. It does not belong to us really-it is like a
rented house. However much you repair and decorate it, it is
a futile exercise. It is not yours to possess. We have left all
this behind to work for our souls.
Sadhvis' comparison of their life with a householder's life, and their critique of
existing institutions and the enumeration of possibilities inherent in sqyama, are all
steeped in a peculiarly Jain ascetic tradition. Is it not impossible to work for the
welfare of one's soul when duties towards husband, children and even in-laws have
to be dispensed with? Is not a mother worried more about her child's tiffin than her
atma? Thus the tenets of Jainism can be followed truly only if one renounces the
samsara and samsaric obligations.
Sadhvis invariably and unfailingly cite the urgency of working for their souls as the
principal motivating factor for their taking to sanyasa. Though many sadhvis bring up
issues such as anxiety about marriage 01 airagyapurna, Sambodhi sri, Niranjana sri,
Malli sri and others); fear oflosing all control over their lives (Akshay sri, Divyaguna
sri, Manju sri, et a~; urge for an independent career (Ranjana, Niranjana sri, Malli sri
etc); desire for scholarship and learning, in their discussions with me-they insist
upon vairagya and atma kafyana as central to their renunciation. Nuns thus construct a
collective discourse around the experience of asceticism. Crucial to these narratives
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are the episodes of how they convinced their parents of the intensity of their vairagya.
It must be demonstrated by distancing oneself from the body and its cravings:
sleeping on hard mats or floor; undertaking arduous vratas; giving up 'normal'
activities like watching cinema or listening to radio; and wearing plain clothes;
equanimity in face of threats-and sometimes violence-by parents (see Chapter
! IV). As all sadhvis told me, "Parents will test you before giving permission for diksha.
It is a hard life. They can't give you permission till you convince them of the
firmness of their resolve." Pragiti sri said that her parents found it hard to believe
that she wished to renounce , because she was fond of pretty clothes and a
comfortable life. Only when she had displayed the genuineness of her vairagya and
her commitment to renunciation through a variety of practices (which
communicated her disregard for physical comforts) did they relent.
As an example of how the axis of asceticism may be selected in order to override the
gender dimension of social honour, let me quote here Aryika Bahubali, a Digambar
sadhvi's conversation with me on the Digambar position on women's salvation:
"Striniroana is an oxymoron. It is like saying that a barren woman gave birth to a
child. Women lack the physical strength needed to undertake the austerities that
munis can. They ca~'t rid themselves of the shame of their bodies. Can you ever
imagine a naked sadhvi? It is unthinkable. And without the renunciation of clothes,
there is no true scryama." Her monologue follows the script up till this point. Then,
she adds: "In the present era, there is no liberation for men either." Thus even
though the Digambar values may place men above women, given the lack of
possibility of moksha in this age, both male and female mendicants are essentially
engaged in the same enterprise, without hope for liberation in this birth. Similarly,
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when I quizzed sadhvis on the proscription on sadhvis to read an ancient text,
Drishtivada/ sadhvis casually asked me not to mull over the question since the said
text was no longer extant anyway.8
Vandana f!Yavahara receives a similar treatment. The ascetic project reqUltes
effacement of the self and ego; venerating the sadhus, no matter how young or old,
displays foremost the qualities of egolessness. Vandana therefore serves as an
excellent device for gaining nitjarrl and dharma labha10• Refusal to bow to all munis
would not only violate the order ordained by Mahavira, but also militates against the
most fundamental of Jain ascetic precepts: the development of indifference and
equanimity. To be rankled by the thought of paying veneration to those one
considers one's junior is a sign that a sadhvi, unable to obliterate her ego, still
harbours feelings of self-centredness and arrogance, and is therefore faltering on the
path of purification. Tapa Gacch sadhvi Dinmani sri thus holds vandana l!Yavahara to
be a sign of her ascetic qualities: "I do vandana to all sadhus with grace and
politeness. It never enters my mind that I am senior so I should not bow to him."
\X!hen I pressed on, asking why it must be demanded of sadhvis alone to
demonstrate their spiritual worth by performing salutations to sadhus and not vice
versa, she concluded: "\X!hy should I be bothered by their [sadhus1 problems. I am
able to cut at my karma-bandhanas by doing vandana and I am happy with that." A
venerable Shraman Sangh sadhvi advised me to focus my research on the strict
discipline which sadhvis follow since vandana 1(Yavahara was a non-issue: ''Write about
7 Sangave, op. cit, p. 170. 8 Interviews with Khartar Gacch sadhvis in Moti Dungri,Jaipur. 9 The wearing away of karma through austerities. 10 Gain of merit.
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our nryama, our vratas and our dedication to sqyama. Rest is irrelevant." She then went
on to catalogue the various mahavratas and other vows of restraints (samitis and
guptis), determined to change the topic.11
All of these serve to build a discourse that privileges a sadhvi's vairagya over her '
femaleness.
Creating Counter-hegemonies:
While a majority of sadhvis chose an alternate principle of prestige ranking (that of
asceticism) to supersede gender as a status principle in their everyday lives, there are
also others-albeit a small group-who are actively fashioning a counter hegemony
and trying to breach the principle of male hegemony. through this alternate ranking
system. The votaries of this model have been a group of sadhvis belonging to the
Shraman Sangh of Sthanakvasi sect, Dr. Manju sri and her disciples. These nuns .
present a strident critique of discriminatory practices within Jain monastic
organization, denouncing male dominance as a contravention of ascetic principles.
Manju sri and her shisf?yaas argue that Mahavira claimed the superiority of a person's
spiritual capacities over ascriptive criteria such as caste and gender. The mendicant
can and should be judged only by the length of their austerities and asceticism. The
flow of reverential greetings should always proceed from junior to senior ascetics,
regardless of mendicant's gender, or even their ages-for indeed even if a child were
to be initiated prior to the parents, the rule would not alter. In other words, seniority
could be determined only through precedence in sqyama. For these sadhvis, the
creation of a separate female monastic order under Mahavira, its unique
11 Sadhvi Nidhikripa, Interview at Kolhapur Jain Sthanak, Delhi.
256
administrative mechanism with chief nun Chandanbala at its head, with no
interference from the male acharyas-references to which are to be found in the
earliest of literature-serves as proof of the autonomy guaranteed to the nuns'
orders.12 Early monastic rules envisaged two kinds of situations in which vandana was
to be performed: all those who had accomplished sadhutva (virtues of the ascetic)
were worthy of greetings by all mendicants and laity alike; second, senior sadhvis
were to be reverentially greeted by junior sadhvis and likewise for sadhus.13 Thus in
both situations, it was the principle of "sqyama jyeshthd' (seniority on the basis of
asceticism) rather than "lingajyeshthd' (seniority determined by gender) that prevailed.
Dr. Manju sri cites early Agamic literature dealing with ascetic codes and books of
discipline, especially the Cheda Sutras, which unequivocally claim the pre-eminence of
seniority by diksha and asceticism.
These nuns bemoan the gradual marginalization of this principle of ranking (of
ascetic seniority) and its subsequent replacement by the principle of male superiority,
wherein male mendicants were eternally fixed as the revered category (vandaniya and
ptfianiya) and female mendicants as the one to offer the reverences (vandaka and
ptfiaka). According Manju sri, Shastric evidence stands in conflict with the current
insistence that nuns continue to offer reverences to all sadhus regardless of their
seniority, and is unacceptable to sadhvis like herself, who declared that her disciples
would not bow before any younger sadhus. As she said: "young ones have a right
over my affections, not reverences."
12 Akshay sri, "Bhagwan Mahavira ka Nari Vishqyaka Drishtikotl' and "Sadhvi Va~ Upekshit F;yon?" Both unpublished ru.1:icles. 13 Acharya sri Mahapragna ji, "Bhagwan Mahavira ki Sangha Vjavasthd' in Jain Prakash, 23 May 1995.
257
To the argument that gender inequality is inscribed in the very scriptural tradition of
Jainism, these nuns' riposte comes closest to a feminist critique. Sadhvi Akshay sri,
Manju sri's articulate disciple, reminded me thatJainism remained for many centuries
a largely oral tradition, with Mahavira's sermons compiled into texts much later by
men, who despite their scholarship, brought their biases into the exercise of
redaction. The writings of learned sadhvis like Mahasati Yakkini have been
marginalized by this tradition dominated by men, she said.
This is a. view shared overwhelmingly by the V eeraytan sadhvis headed by Acharya
Chandana ji. Let me quote here Sadhvi Shubham ji's lucid correspondence with me:
Scriptures were written in a patriarchal society. I think that if
you are sincere in your religious practices you can reach the
highest spiritual point. Liberation is concerned with the soul
not the body. All souls are equal and whether it is in the body
of a man or woman it makes litde difference. The soul is what
is worshipped and remembered, not the body or prosperity.
The 19th tirthankara Mallinath ji was a woman herself.
Mahavira Bhagwan's female disciple Arya Chandanaji had
36,000 followers while Gautam Swamiji had 14,000.
Her guru behen, Sadhvi Shilapi ji was of the view that "these prejudices arose due to
interpolation by a male dominated society."
Of course such attempts at breaching cannot be accomplished easily and without
opposition. At a Shraman Sangh sammelan held at Pune in 1987, Dr. Manju sri led a
minor movement against the practice. She convened a separate general body meeting
of the sadhvis attended by 77 sadhvis, prior to the main council in which a resolution
258
against the current mode of vandana 1!Yavahara was placed. After a lengthy debate, 74
of the 77 sadhvis voted with the proposal. However, since it was time for gocari, the
sadhvis did· not formally sign their assent to a written document. But upon their
return to their gurus, the sadhvis received a strong reprimand from the munis who t i
accused them of refusing to respect the 'elders'-the monks. "Don't you wish to do
vandana to us?", the munis asked the sadhvis of their respective parivars and
samudqyas. The sadhvis were thus shamed into retracting their acquiescence to Dr.
Manju sri's proposal by the acharyas.14 So finally, despite the widespread sentiment
among sadhvis against the practice, official authorization for ending the inequitable
vandana 1(javahara could not be secured. Making a prescient connection between the
continuation of these practices, Manju sri linked it unequivocally to the question of
power:
\Vhen I cite all textual evidence in my support, the sadhus
have no answers. Either they are condescending, or they get
upset with me. But they have no solution to this. Once a
sadhu said to me, 'today you are demanding that this vandana
1(javahara be scrapped, tomorrow you will want sadhvis to
become acharyas as well.' I said 'of course, that is our right
and we will demand it!' He replied that this was precisely the
reason that the monks were against the relaxation on this rule.
They are afraid that they will lose their power because numerically
we sadhvis outnumber them. [Emphasis added].
\Vhile these issues may not have won popular support from within the sadhvi samqj,
the very public nature of the debate has indeed forced a re-think, at least within the
Shraman Sangh. Upadhyaya Ravindta Muni ji, a senior monk of the Shraman Sangh
14 Based on interviews with Dr Manju sri and her shisf?yaas.
259
confided that there were plans afoot to grant sadhvis a greater role in the
administrative structure of the sangha. He also agreed that a section of nuns was
unhappy about the current mode of vandana, but sought to allay any suggestion that
monks insisted on being venerated. "It is an expression of mutual respect and
warmth, and can never be forced." But clearly, such a shift in thinking has been
prompted by the sustained discussion that sadhvis like Manju sri forced upon the
community.
Whether nuns mute male dominance and prestige or actively look to subvert it, in
the end, they are able to create some spheres in their lives over which they feel they
have control. Their position as moral guides for laity also gives them a sense of.
control over others' lives. That is to say, they are able to carve out spheres of female
power. This is best summarized in Akshay sri's assertion: "Even religion may be
patriarchal, but at least here in this life of sqyama we can ignore this for most times by
focusing on our own atma kafyana and learning. We can remain aloof from all this."
Indeed this positive self evaluation is also reflected in the public domain. Let me cite
here a devotional song composed by the Digambar ariyka, Dakshmati, in honour of
her preceptor, Chandramati. mata ji.
The Aarti of Chandramati mata ji
We all venerate thee, 0' Chandramati mata ji,
We venerate thee; and gaze at your wondrous personage.
260
Born in Navan Shehar to mother Brijeshwari and father Sri
Sitaram,
The foremost miracle of twentieth century,
Took diksha in Nag~r town,
Ocean of wisdom, she bestows merit on all her followers,
She glows, our Chandramati mata ji does,
We venerate thee ...
She drives away all our problems,
Our Ganini is full of virtues,
w~ venerate thee 0 0 0
A storehouse of knowledge, Her words are so sweet,
Her nectar of knowledge flows to all of us,
Her sermons grant us grace,
We venerate thee ...
Beautiful Chandramati ji had no interest in the world,
No worldly attachments did she have in her heart,
She left her family and friends,
We Venerate thee ...
Compassion is her second nature,
She is the bearer of the Three Jewels,
May you live for thousands of years,
We venerate thee ...
We light golden lamps in your honour,
We sing in your honour,
We seek refuge at your feet,
Dakshmati sings your praises,
We all venerate thee.15
t5 Translation mine.
261
Let us for a moment now rewind to the ceremony of initiation (diksha) into a sadhvi
order. It is an example par excellence of the prestige an ascetic enjoys in the
community. Though Anne Vallely writes that female renouncers do not set out to be
cultural icons, we may discern a process of iconicization underway in the elaborate
public ceremonies surrounding the ordination, especially the parade that precedes it.
Diksha merits this great public celebration because it upholds the Jain ideal of
..
renunciation. The account of Preeti's diksha in Chapter V attests to the high regard
her enterprise is held in. Such is its intrinsic worth that a vairagin exudes a certain
degree of auspiciousness for the householders. There was a virtual stampede at the
conclusion of Preeti Jain's mehendi ceremony, as suhagins (married women whose
husbands are alive) rushed forth to partake of the henna from the pot Preeti had
used to daub sadhus and sadhvi with. Again, on the following day, during the shobha
yatra and the rite of diksha, there was a scramble to collect the coins Preeti was
throwing around into the audience and the parade.16 A leading sravaka told me that
they would keep these coins in the tfj'ori (locker) as it would lead to a manifold
increase in their wealth. But the shobha yatra is not simply for the community to
participate in-its purpose is also to communicate to a wider audience about this
extraordinary event, when a young, beautiful girl is going to give up all comforts for
a lifetime of severe austerities. The extensive photographing (and now the video
recording) of the event also freezes this idealized behaviour for display and
propagation. In Agra, large announcements about the imminent diksha of three girls
in the V eeraytan sect of Sthanakvasi order began appearing in the local newspapers a
few days prior to the diksha. Photographs of the three girls always accompanied these
16 This throwing of coins is a simulation and re-enactment of Mahavira's renunciation, where he flung his wealth away in an act of ryaga.
262
insertions with a caption below giving their names that of their family's (See Images
6.1 and 6.2). The photographs are typical studio portraits instandy recognizable to us
as belonging to the genre of matrimonial photography (the kind parents in India
would get prepared to circulate amongst prospective bridegrooms and their
families-a demure smile, light jewellery, sari and the head tilted just so.) The
effect-and I suspect, also the intention-of these photos is to heighten the contrast
between the girls' present worldly existence and the ascetic life they were fast
approaching. Besides, the packaging the diksharthis in pretty pictures and their
broadcast through the local media also staves off any aspersions that these girls are
resorting to a lifetime of asceticism out of worldly compulsions, such as poverty or
unattractive looks etc. It foregrounds at the same time the girls' choice and the pull
of the ascetic path of Jainism. An ideal vairagin is one who is poised to happily sever
all ties with her family, kin and friends; her bridal dress, her hennaed hands, and the
heavy jewellery-all gesture at the possibilities she chooses to leave behind.
Possibilities of marriage and of a life where the body is decorated, pampered and
celebrated for the sake of worldly pleasures; possibilities which are expunged with
the change of clothes. During the shobha yatra, Preeti's mother followed the cavalcade
lisdessly, occasionally erupting into loud sobs. Later, as Preeti took off her garland
and delivered her diksha speech (see Chapter V), her mother and aunt began to cry
out loudly sensing these to be the last moments of their daughter's samsaric life and
their parent-child bond. Preeti however remained supremely unmoved to the
unfolding of this emotional drama. Her remoteness from this emotional turmoil was
conveyed through her joyous smile and her gaze transfixed at a distance, above and
beyond the audience. She had trained herself to be indifferent to the desires and pulls
263
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of the body and mind. In short, she has become an ideal vairagin, fit to be hailed and
venerated by the samqj.
A group of laywomen. explained to me the significance of shringara prior to diksha.
"We dress her up :irl new clothes everyday, adorn her with beautiful jewellery and
apply make-up. A girl should feel that she has fulfilled all her desires before she is
ordained. No feminine desires [for good clothes and jewellery] must be left
unfulfilled. Koi armaan nahi rehna chah!Je."11 Having satiated her desires thus, she must
now concentrate on the taming of these desires and work towards the purification of
the soul. No desire must slip through the wall of ascetic fortitude. If asc~ticism
begets social honour for the sadhvi.and her family, then admission of weakness and
unwillingness to continue living in Sai!Jasa can bring disgrace. Most sadhvis were
reluctant to discuss any particular cases where ascetics may have returned to the
samsara, insisting instead that only the unfortunate ones who failed to recognize the
worth of sqyama ever turned their back to it. I will make reference to one incident
here which is crucial to our discussion. In 2006, Riddhi sri, a 21-year-old Jain sadhvi
went missing from Amravati, 150 kilometres from Nagpur, where she was stationed
for chaturmas with two senior sadhvis, Chetna sri and Vidya sri.18 It turned out later
that Riddhi sri had become intimate with a young man in Sangli (where the sadhvis
were in residence earlier), who had followed her to Amravati on the pretext of
serving her. She had eloped wit~ him in the early hours of the morning. Riddhi sri
had devised .her escape ingeniously, making it appear a case of spiritual epiphany and
disappearance. Next morning, a pile of ashes and bones were discovered in her room
17 In personal conversation with the female residents of Atma V allabh society, Rohini. 18 "Jain Sadhvi Disappears" in the daily newspaper, DNA, 16 October 2006.
264
whilst the carpet and sheets under' the pile remained unscathed. Sadhvi Chetna sri
claimed that she had seen a strong light emanating from her room and that her
disappearance was a "case of divine power". Even some lay Jains were convinced
that the incident was a miracle. Adding further grist to the miracle theory was a letter
seized from her room, which read: ''Jeene se pehle socha kar, kya kama hai m"!Jhe? Marne
se pehle socha kar, ~a k!Ja hai maine? Varna jine-mame se koi fayda nahi." (Think, before
you live, what do I want to do? Think, before you die, what have I achieved?
Otherwise there's no point in living or dying.) On the calendar on the wall, the date
of disappearance, 14'th October, was encircled in red, and the word, siddhi (liberation)
scribbled alongside it.
It was obvious that Riddhi had eloped with her paramour but fearing social reprisal
had manufactured a version of her disappearance which was cast in the very language
she had been trained in for the past six years or more, when she took diksha at the
age of 14. Death of a mendicant is usually described as "lop ho jand'-literally
vanishing or evaporation. Prior to Riddhi's disappearance had been a series of
sallekhana (voluntary embracing of death). Riddhi had attempted to place herself in
the same tradition by devising her (literal) vanishing act as the apogee of her ascetic
career, and not its truncation.
The sensational case ended in ignominy for the sadhvi who along with her lover was
recovered and arrested; sadhvi's family in a village in Ajmer district in Rajasthan too
remained mired in scandal.
265
I choose these two cases-one '?f initiation into, and another of leaving asceticism-
in order to highlight the continuities and ruptures between sadhvis and laywomen.
While asceticism involves the inversion of some womanly roles (that of the mother
and wife; most notably), there are also significant overlaps between the two roles. j
The production of an,idealized sadhvi actually closely mirrors the manner in which a
'good girl' worthy of marriage into a respectable Jain family is defined through her
conduct. Josephine Reynell has described how public demonstrations by young,
unmarried Jain girls come to signify sexual purity and honour.19 By attending large
ceremonial gatherings, listening to pravachanas, indulging in fasting, a girl emphasizes
her attachment to the Jain values of renunciation, her ability to discipline her desires
and her impeccable 'virginal' credentials. All of these place her advantageously in the
marriage circuit. Thus young marriageable Jain girls must internalize the qualities of a
true Jain sadhvi and model their conduct likewise.
Both householdership and asceticism are culturally prescribed roles for women.
Asceticism is certainly an alternative for women, but one that is coded through Jain
cultural values. This is not to deny that women are attracted to saf!YaSa for a variety of
personal reasons, as we have discussed before, or that it should not be legitimately
viewed as a rejection of marriage and family by these women; neither can the fact
that female ascetics are able to create autonomous domains of authority be
underplayed. These are all crucial and valid points. But in the end, the very legitimacy
of the institution of female asceticism, and the way in which the same!} upholds it and
sustains it renders female asceticism into a socially approved alternative institution.
t9 See Josephine Reynell, op. cit.
266