Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c14.s2.t1.73

c14.s2.t1.73

Then various other classes of ascetics are mentioned¹⁶⁸ Some believed in abstention from acids, salt, garlic, onions, young camel's milk, beef and liquors as the path of perfection¹⁶⁹ Some lived in woods, huts, near the villages, practised secret rites and never abstained from killing living beings. They declared "I am not to be punished, tormented or deprived of life because I am a Brāhmaṇa, Śūdras only must be put to such fates because they are mean and low"¹⁷⁰ Then there were various nuns such as *caṇkā, puṇyāṅkī, kapalikā, tevannikā bhāgorāī* and the like they moved in the country of Sindhu in huge numbers¹⁷¹