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Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c14.t3: (3) The Tāvasa Samaṇas

Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c14.t3

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(3) The Tāvasa Samaṇas

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The institution of hermits or *Tāvasas* is very old. We hear that on one of the journeys he made during his ascetic life, Mahāvīra put up in a hermitage (*āsamapada*) in Morāga Sannivesa.⁷² Mahāvīra came across another hermitage named Kanakakhala in Uttaravācāla where five hundred hermits were staying;⁷³ still another hermitage is referred to in Poyanapura where Vakkalacī was born.⁷⁴

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⁷² Āva Nir 463

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⁷³ Āia cū p 979

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⁷⁴ Ibid, p 157; cf Bāhuya Dāruciya in the *Dhammapada* 4. II, p p 209 1

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The hermits lived in the forest⁷⁵ where they occupied themselves either in meditation or in sacrificial rites, or in practice of self-torture or studying the *Suttas* containing the texts of their school. Much of their time was spent in gathering fruits and roots for their sustenance, or in going into villages for alms. The *Vyavahāra Bhāṣya* tells us that the *Tāvasas* picked up rice-grains scattered around the mortar (*udukkhala*), or the threshing floor (*khalaya*) and ate them after cooking. Sometimes they collected as little quantity of grains as could be held in a spoon (*darvī*) or stick (*daṇḍa*) or between the thumb and the forefinger (*sandāsaya*) or as much as adhered to a piece of cloth (*pottiya*).⁷⁶

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⁷⁵ Nisi cū 965

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⁷⁶ 10 23

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The *Ovāiya*⁷⁷ mentions the following classes of *Vānapatha Tāvasas* residing on the bank of the Ganges: Hottiya—They offered sacrifice. Kottiya—They slept on the bare ground. Pottiya—They belonged to the class of ascetics who wore clothes. Jannai—They performed sacrifice. Saddhai—They belonged to the devotional class of ascetics. Thālai—They carried all their belongings with them (*gṛhitabhāṇḍa*). Humbauttha—They carried a vessel with them (*kuṇḍikāsamana*). Dantukkhaliya⁷⁸—They used their teeth for a mortar, grinding the grain to be eaten between their teeth. Ummajjaka—They bathed taking only a dip. Sammajjaka—They bathed by taking dips several times. Nimajjaka—They remained in water only for a short while. Sampakkhāla—They rubbed and cleansed their body with mud.

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⁷⁷ Sū 38, p 170, also Nisi 3, p 39

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⁷⁸ Dantukkhaliya and ummajjaka hermits are also mentioned in the Rāmāyaṇa, III, 6.3; also Dīgha Nikāya VI. 1, p 270, have eight kinds of ascetics are mentioned

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Dakkhiṇakūlaga—They dwelt on the south bank of the Ganges Uttarakūlaga—They dwelt on the north bank of the Ganges Sankhadhamaga—They had meals after blowing a conch-shell to keep people away Kūladhamaga—They blew a conch-shell on the river bank to keep people away while they took their meal Miyaluddhaya—They killed animals Hatthitāvasa—They killed an elephant with arrows and made their livelihood by eating its flesh for months together The Hatthitāvasas claimed that they committed but one sin, the killing of the elephant in a year or so which was counterbalanced by the merit earned by not killing other lives during this time. They are also mentioned in the Sūyagaḍaṅga According to the commentary, they were Buddhist monks ⁷⁹

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⁷⁹ II, 6, The Lalitavistara (p. 248) mentions ‘Hastirata’ ascetics.

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Uddandaga—They moved about raising their staff They are referred to along with Boḍiya and Sasarakkha mendicants who went about naked and used the hollow of their hands as alms-bowl.⁸⁰

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⁸⁰ Ācā cū p 169.

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Disāpokkhī—They sanctified all sides by sprinkling water and then collected flowers and fruits The Bhagavatī⁸¹ refers to the royal sage Siva of Hatthināpura, who joined the order of the Disāpokkhiyas on the bank of the Ganges. He practised chatthama (a fast, broken at the sixth meal) and on the day on which he broke fast, he sprinkled the eastern quarter, propitiated Soma, the lord of east, and collected bulbous roots, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds and green vegetables Then he returned to his hut, cleaned the sacrificial altar (vedikā) and went to bathe in the Ganges He made another altar with grass and sand, kindled a fire by the friction of pieces of wood, and keeping ritualistic paraphernalia by his side, offered honey, ghee and rice to the fire Then he prepared caru (oblation), worshipped Vāssadeva and the guests and then took his meal Then Siva observed the chatthama fast again and proceeded to the south to propitiate Yama, then to the west to propitiate Varuna and finally to the north to propitiate Vesamāna Somila was another hermit of Vārānasī who belonged to the same order and was a worshipper of the four disās ⁸² King Pasannacanda also belonged to the same order; he joined the order along with his queen and the nurse ⁸³

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⁸¹ 11 9

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⁸² Niryā 3, pp 39 ff

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⁸³ Āva. cū p. 457.

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Vakavāsī—They put on dress of bark Ambuvāsī—They lived in water Bilavāsī—They lived in caves Jalavāsī—They remained submerged in water Velavāsī—They lived on the sea-coast Rukkhamūlia—They lived under the trees. Ambubhakkhī—They lived by drinking water only.

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*Vāubhakkhī*⁸⁴—They lived by inhaling air only *Serālabhakkhī*⁸⁵—They lived by eating moss Other hermits lived on roots, bulbous roots, peels, leaves, flowers and seeds, some on rotten roots, bulbous roots, skin, leaves, flowers and fruits,⁸⁶ their body became rough due to constant bathing and they practised the *pañcaggi* penance. These *Tāvasas* followed the rules of the *Vānaprastha āśrama*. Like other ascetics the *Tāvasas* also moved in a body. We hear of three hermits named Koḍinna, Dinna and Sevāli, who were followed by a body of five hundred disciples each. They lived on roots, bulbs, decayed leaves and moss; they set out to pay a visit to Atthāvaya.⁸⁷

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⁸⁴ The Rāmāyaṇa, III, 11 13 mentions Māṇḍakarṇi a hermit, who lived on air; also Mahābhārata (I 96 42)

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⁸⁵ Cf Lalitavistara, p 218

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⁸⁶ Cf the ascetic pictures in the Dīgha I pp 106 f

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⁸⁷ Uttarā T, 10, 151a

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