Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c5.s6.3

c5.s6.3

It is stated in the Ācārāṅga⁷⁵ that “a mendicant who moves about naked (acela) and is firm in control, it will not occur to him ‘my clothes are torn, I shall beg new ones, I shall beg for thread, I shall beg for a needle, I shall mend them, I shall repair them’,” which shows that in the early days both kinds of monks, viz, Jinakalpa and Sthavirakalpa⁷⁶ were allowed to remain in the Jain Sangha, and there were no strict rules about one’s wearing clothes or going undressed. The injunction that “‘my clothes being torn, I shall soon go naked,’ or ‘I shall get new one’s’ such thoughts should not be entertained by a monk”⁷⁷ also testifies the above assertion What we gather from the Jain texts Mahāvīra seems to be the first exponent of nudity, as a cult feature in the Jain Church, although as we have seen even the monks of the order of Pārsava practised Jinakappa After Mahāvīra the name of Mahāgiri, a disciple of Thūlabhadda is cited who towards the end of his life entrusted the gana to Suhatthi and practised Jinakappa at Dasannapura⁷⁸ The practice of Jinakappa was also prevalent at the time of Ajja Rakkhiya. We learn from the *Āvaśyaka Cūrṇi*⁷⁹ that when Ajja Rakkhiya initiated his family, his father was not willing to discard clothes due to modesty; he felt shy to move about naked in the presence of his daughters and daughters-in-law. Later on, with great persuasion he accepted a *kaḍipatta* which was replaced by a *colapaṭṭa* in course of time.