The Doctrine of the Jainas, Described after the Old Sources c10.46

c10.46

Significant as is the hand-broom so is the napkin called muha-poṭṭiyā (-paṭṭi, -paṭṭiyā), m.-ṇanta-ga; mukha-vastrikā. Acc. to Ohaṇijj. 712 its purpose is first (and in accordance with its root pū) to wipe insects and dust which we know to be animate, off the face—this the old teaching after Droṇa's comm.—and, second, when occupied with cleaning within the house to prevent such beings from entering into both the mouth and the nose. It is characteristic of the Jains' dependence on Brahman models that the face-cloth unknown to the latter is not referred to in the sequences mentioned § 142, nor that it appears frequently at other places (Viy. 139a=Uvās. 77; Vivāgas. 38a; Paṇhāv. 123a; Utt. 26, 23; Nis. 4, 24). At any rate we are not told that it should be used when talking with a superior, as is done by the Sthānakvāsī to-day, nor, since cultic customs are not being dealt with, that it should be applied towards the sacred figure.