Article: Giving alms

Śvetāmbara monastic bowls
Image by Nalini Balbir © Nalini Balbir

The guiding principle of the rules is that mendicants should not eat food that has been prepared specially for them. They should take small quantities from the food that the housewife has already prepared for the family for their everyday meals.

This is a form of non-violence because then the potential donors do not feel pressured into producing special food for the mendicants.

It also encourages the lay Jains to eat food that is suitable for their ascetic counterparts.

Monk receives alms
Image by British Library © CC0 1.0 (Creative Commons Public Domain)

It has always been easier to search for alms in villages or urban areas where Jain families live because they will be ready to give and at least will know of the basic rules to which the food should conform. But if Jain mendicants have to pass through areas with few Jains, this can be difficult. The possibility of being in such a situation is considered in the textual tradition, where the various obstacles that can arise on the begging tours are described at length. An example can be found on page 100 of Jacobi’s translation of the Ācārānga-sūtra.

The difficulty of getting proper alms is part of the ‘troubles’ – parīsaha – mendicants must overcome. They should neither ask for something nor complain if they do not get what they want because they should be calm at all times.

On this subject the Uttarādhyayana-sūtra states:

It will always cause difficulties to a houseless monk to get everything by begging, and nothing without begging. The hand [of the giver] is not always kindly stretched out to a monk when he is on his begging tour; but he should not think that it would be better to live as a householder. He should beg food from the householder when his dinner is ready; a wise man should not care whether he gets alms or not. ‘I get nothing to-day, perhaps I shall get something to-morrow’; a monk who thinks thus will not be grieved by his want of success

Jacobi’s translation
page 13, chapter 2, stanzas 28 to 31

Vegetarian dishes
Image by Ewan Munro © CC BY-SA 2.0

Followers of the Jinas have been associated with strict vegetarianism from time immemorial. Even so, a few passages of the Śvetāmbara canonical scriptures show that in the distant past meat may have been eaten in extreme circumstances, as a remedy for illness for instance. These passages can be found in chapter 5 of the Daśavaikālika-sūtra or chapter 15 of the Vyākhyāprajñapti.

This possibility has given rise to many heated debates among Jains, with the medieval commentators of the texts frequently interpreting the problematic words as referring to fruit.

The notion of earlier Jains eating meat is a highly controversial matter, even among contemporary believers.

Cooked basmati rice
Image by Pearl Pirie © CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Finally, what can be consumed also depends on what is available. This varies according to the season and the region.

Acceptable food includes the various types of Indian breads – roṭī – rice, vegetable dishes and fruit. In order to be considered pure, water must be boiled so that it does not have any minute living beings and should not be chilled.

Śvetāmbara monks
Image by Hoorob – Robert Tyabji © CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

All the rules laid out in the scriptures make seeking alms difficult but the daily search can be made harder deliberately. This happens when monks and nuns set themselves extra restrictions or resolutions – abhigraha. The underlying motivation is that a greater degree of asceticism is more efficient in destroying karmas. These restrictions may be connected to the type of food and/or to specific conditions relating to the donor. The restrictions may be set for different lengths of time.

When the predetermined conditions are not fulfilled, the mendicant remains without food. Digambara mendicants commonly hold these extra resolutions and, as a result, might not eat for some time.

The story of Candanbālā illustrates an especially difficult case, where the self-imposed restrictions are such that the mendicant can effectively accept alms from only one individual.

Giving alms to a monk
Image by British Library © CC0 1.0 (Creative Commons Public Domain)

There are three good examples of the centrality of alms in Jain belief in the Śvetāmbara canonical scriptures.

Firstly, in the 11th book – Vivāgasuya – of the Śvetāmbara canon, there are short episodes describing alms-giving, rather than full stories. They show a fixed pattern that underlines the various stages of the process of giving. The first story tells how the householder Vijaya gives food to Mahāvīra so he can break his fast. Then the same outline is repeated with the names changed.

Prominent features of these outlines are:

1. the situation
2. the monk’s arrival at the lay man’s house and the welcome ritual
3. the monk’s receiving the food
4. the glory awaiting the donor.

The first stage involves offering food to a monk after he has observed a fast. This is considered excellent because it implies a certain solemnity, although it is more common to offer food on a daily basis to mendicants on regular begging rounds.

In the second stage, the lay man demonstrates the proper attitude and performs the ceremony of welcome when the mendicant arrives at his house for alms:

he sees the monk coming;
full of joy and happiness, he gets up from his seat,
leaves his stool,
takes off his shoes,
puts his cloth on one side of his shoulder,
goes seven or eight feet following the monk,
turns around him three times from left to right,
bows down before him, pays his respects with a large quantity of the fourfold food;
he says[,] full of happiness: “I shall give alms”; also while he is giving, he is full of happiness; also after having given, he is full of happiness.

extract from the Vivāgasuya
translation by Nalini Balbir

The third stage is expressed by a verb meaning ‘to get in return’ – the Prakrit paḍilāhei:

The monk was given the gift [of food], which was pure in three ways [mind, speech and action], and, in respect of the three modes of action [doing, causing someone to do, letting someone do], pure with regard to the substance, the donor and the taker.

extract from the Vivāgasuya
translation by Nalini Balbir

The final stage emphasises that when the monk receives the food the lay man receives merit. Therefore the link between both parties is extremely close and based on reciprocity.

This is symbolised by the list of five heavenly presents the donor can expect for his act of giving:

1. a rainfall of riches
2. flowers of all colours fall from the sky
3. garments are tossed in celebration
4. the gods‘ drums are beaten in celebration
5. shouts are heard in the sky: “Wonderful! A gift! A gift!”

This list is not to be understood literally, of course. What it means is that properly offering alms to a monk is an act of merit – puṇya – that will have good results for the donor in this life and in his next births.

The second example of alms-giving in Śvetāmbara holy writings can be found in an episode starring Revatī, narrated in the fifth main book – Aṅga – the Viyāhapannatti. The recipient of her gift is the Jina Mahāvīra himself, who is suffering from an attack of fever caused by his religious opponent, Makkhali Gośāla. Revatī offers the medicine – a kind of food – that cures him and which she gives him through his disciple.

The final example demonstrates how offering improper food has negative consequences. The story of Dharmaruci is given in the sixth main book – Aṅga – of the Śvetāmbara canon. Dharmaruci is a monk who is offered food reluctantly by the lady of the house where he begs alms. She gives him a sweetened, juicy preparation of bitter melon. When the monk shows the food to his superior for inspection, as the rule prescribes, the latter realises that the food is poisonous and tries to convince Dharmaruci not to eat it. Yet he eats it in order to save the numerous ants that would otherwise be attracted to the sugared food. Dharmaruci dies.

Ṛṣabha is offered sugar-cane juice
Image by Vaibhavsoni1 © CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)

The origin of the rules surrounding the offering and accepting of food is conveyed through a story associated with the life of the first Jina, Ṛṣabhanātha or Lord Ṛṣabha. It is said that he wanders for a full year without food. All the people he meets offer him things he cannot accept, such as improper seating, clothes, perfumes, flowers and improper food.

Then a prince called Śreyāṃsa has various dreams or, according to other versions, remembers memories of his previous life and thus knows the characteristics of proper gifting. He offers Ṛṣabha sugarcane juice, which the Jina can accept and thus he can break his fast – pāraṇā. Therefore Śreyāṃsa is considered the first proper donor on earth.

From the tenth century onwards, this event became associated with a specific date. This date is the third day of the ‘bright fortnight’ of the month of Vaiśākha, which falls over April and May. This is known as Akṣaya-tṛtīyā – the ‘Indestructible Third’. In the 20th century, celebrating and commemorating this mythical event has become one of the main festivals of the Jain religious calendar. On this day people who have observed a year-long fast, called varṣītap, break it, in imitation of the mythical event.

Giving milk-rice to a monk
Image by British Library © CC0 1.0 (Creative Commons Public Domain)

The story of Śālibhadra figures prominently in both the textual and the iconographic traditions. Sangama is a poor boy who is the son of a widow. One day he wants to eat milk-rice, a delicacy. His mother cannot afford to buy the ingredients, but her neighbours bring them to her. She thus prepares the milk-rice for her child. When he is about to eat, a monk happens to pass near their house. The child gives part of the dish to him, then another part, then finally the full dish.

The poor boy is reborn as Śālibhadra, the son of a rich couple, and later married to 32 maidens. After numerous events, he decides to give up worldly life and become a monk. He is encouraged to do so by Dhanya, his brother-in-law. Dhanya is married to Śālibhadra’s sister, who tells him about Śālibhadra’s wish. Dhanya also wants to make the same decision. Before they can renounce the world, both men overcome opposition from their wives and mothers.

Later on, when they have become monks, followers of Mahāvīra, he predicts that they will receive the food for their fast-breaking from the hands of Śālibhadra’s mother. When the two monks reach the gate of their former house, the doorkeeper does not recognise them and turns them away. But later, a woman selling milk feeds them curdled milk. This woman was Śālibhadra’s mother in his earlier birth as Sangama. Mahāvīra’s prediction thus comes true. Both Śālibhadra and Dhanya end their lives in the most pious way, by fasting to death.

Giving alms to Śvetāmbara monks
Image by Victoria and Albert Museum © V&A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Śvetāmbara mendicants go for alms twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. This ensures that they usually eat before sunset. They receive the food in their alms-bowl – pātra.

The Āvaśyaka-cūrṇi describes the traditional Śvetāmbara ritual for donating and receiving alms.

There are variants of this routine, for instance:

• there may not be an invitation to the mendicants because during their begging-tour the ascetics may come without notice to any house in the area, as shown in the Vivāgasuya

• nowadays food is not usually eaten in the donor’s house, but generally placed in the alms-bowl to be eaten at the mendicant’s lodgings.

Sculpture of the Digambara alms-seeking gesture
Image by Nalini Balbir © Nalini Balbir

In contrast to the Śvetāmbaras, Digambara mendicants beg alms once a day, in the morning. They do not use any sort of receptacle or alms-bowl to receive food offered to them. Their cupped hands are the container – pāṇi-pātra.

Comparing the historical evidence of paintings and stone-carvings with contemporary practice in India, some gestures have clearly persisted down the centuries. There is a particular ritual of food-giving that is specific to the Digambara tradition and is very elaborate, though there are only a few hundred Digambara monks. With certain acts assigned to both the donor and the mendicant, the ritual unfolds in stages, each with its precise gestures. At almost every step the lay donors speak certain set phrases. Complex ceremonies surround the steps of:

1. the monk signalling that he seeks alms
2. potential donors inviting him to accept alms
3. the lay people preparing to offer alms
4. the monk taking the alms
5. the end of the alms-giving.

A similar ritual takes place when food is offered to a Digambara nun – āryikā – except that she eats sitting down. Preliminary worship rituals to her are not always performed.

Digambara monk seeks alms
Image by Nalini Balbir © Nalini Balbir

Lay people who wish to offer alms to the monk must follow a sequence of ceremonial steps and utter ritual phrases. If they do not complete the rite properly, the monk will not accept alms from them. They will thus not gain any merit from giving alms that can aid their karma.

Ladies pay their respects to a monk
Image by British Library © CC0 1.0 (Creative Commons Public Domain)

When the alms have been given and received, there is a further rite to perform before the ceremony of alms-giving is considered to have ended. This mainly involves the lay people who have donated alms.

The monk has remained silent from the moment he makes the ritual gesture of seeking alms, known as āhāra-mudrā – ‘food-gesture’. After the alms-giving ceremony has finished, he may talk once again.

When he leaves the donors, the monk goes back to his teacher or to the group to which he belongs and gives a report on the food he has been offered, giving details about the laity’s behaviour and so on.