Essay name: Vasudevahindi (cultural history)
Author:
A. P. Jamkhedkar
Affiliation: Savitribai Phule Pune University / Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute Pune
This essay is an English study of the Vasudevahindi reflecting cultural history and traditions of the life of people in ancient and medieval India during the 6th century. The Vasudevahimdi is a romantic and religious tale that revolves around the wanderings of Vasudeva (a former Jain monk) and religious teachings in the guise of love stories, a common theme of poetry in Jainism.
Chapter 5 - Religion and Philosophy
37 (of 153)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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491
on begging tour did not make any discrimination between
1 those who offered alms due to status%; they begged at
mansions 2
(panna) 3.
so also at the huts of the low caste cam岣峚las
Normally a monk was not to conduct a second
begging tour, but as Dhammilla imagines monks were some-
times compelled to visit the same house twice in case they
got scanty food (mamdabhikkha) 4. So also in normal
circumstances monks were not to accept invitations for meals
but they were invited at their houses by householders to
break the fast 5.
In case a monk was to visit the house of his
relatives he was accompanied by another learned (bahusuya)
monk 6.
1. Precepts in the sutras to this effect are to be noted.
Acaramga (II,1,2) and Dasaveyaliya (5,i,14) both tell
that for a monk the only objective was of pure food,
as such he should visit the places of people of both
low and high status.
2. Vh(P), 47.
3. Ibid., 39.
4. Vh(P), 47. In cases like the above and in rainy season
monks were allowed to have a second round for food; Deo,
Op. cit., 306-07.
5. Vh(P), 368.
6. Ibid., 20-21. Vavahara (6,1)
(6,1)
corroborates this information
and states in addition that the monk was to accept only
that food at the house of relatives which was not cooked
after his arrival.
