Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c31.49

c31.49

**Menial and Administrative Staff.** Among the staff appointed to manage the affairs of the monasteries, there are mentioned, besides the Karmadāna, officers called Vihāra-pālas, such as the keeper, the warder of the gate, and he who announces the affairs of the Saṁgha (p. 148), as also "the lay servants" who do not belong to the order of the monks, but might be professed Upāsakas. Their functions are indicated in the accounts of the Chinese travellers. Fa-Hien refers to them as attending at meals; Hiuen Tsang refers to them as attending on a venerable monk, while I-tsing gives us more details about their work. The "monastic lay servant" carries a chair and utensils when a monk goes to a reception (p. 36); he carries away the remnant of food eaten by the monk (p. 47); he carries incense and flowers in accompanying the precentor going round from one apartment of the monastery to another, chanting hymns (p. 154); the time-drum of the monastery is beaten by him, but he is not entitled to strike the gong announcing the beginning of the Service (p. 145); he had also to watch the clepsydra (p. 144); he is also employed to cultivate the fields belonging to the monasteries which the monks themselves could not directly cultivate under rules (p. 61); while lastly, as we have seen, he had to render menial service to a very learned priest or one who has mastered one of the Piṭakas, who was given the privilege of being attended by such servants.