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The Transformations and Challenges of a Jain Religious Aspirant

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The Transformations and Challenges of a Jain Religious Aspirant View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by DigitalCommons@Florida International University Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 3-22-2016 The rT ansformations and Challenges of a Jain Religious Aspirant from Layperson to Ascetic: An Anthropological Study of Shvetambar Terapanthi Female Mumukshus Komal Ashok Kumar [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, New Religious Movements Commons, Other Religion Commons, Rhetoric Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Ashok Kumar, Komal, "The rT ansformations and Challenges of a Jain Religious Aspirant from Layperson to Ascetic: An Anthropological Study of Shvetambar Terapanthi Female Mumukshus" (2016). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2481. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2481 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida THE TRANSFORMATIONS AND CHALLENGES OF A JAIN RELIGIOUS ASPIRANT FROM LAYPERSON TO ASCETIC: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY OF SHVETAMBAR TERAPANTHI FEMALE MUMUKSHUS A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in RELIGIOUS STUDIES by Komal Ashok Kumar 2016 To: Dean John F. Stack Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs This thesis, written by Komal Ashok Kumar, and entitled The Transformations and Challenges of a Jain Religious Aspirant from Layperson to Ascetic: An Anthropological Study of Shvetambar Terapanthi Female Mumukshus, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this thesis and recommend that it be approved. Christine E. Gudorf Albert Wuaku Steven M. Vose, Major Professor Date of Defense: March 22, 2016 The thesis of Komal Ashok Kumar is approved. Dean John F. Stack Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs Andrés G. Gil Vice President for Research and Economic Development and Dean of the University Graduate School Florida International University, 2016 ii © Copyright 2016 Komal Ashok Kumar All rights reserved. iii DEDICATION To my parents, Ashok Kumar and Pushpalatha Bohra, for encouraging in me the ability, to trust and hope for an amazing life and for letting me accept the opportunities and the knowledge to fulfil my dream. And to my brother, Kuldeep, for teaching and showing me to make the most of every day, and to be thankful for every moment and every one in my life. To the strong, enthusiastic and kindhearted Acharya Mahashraman, Jain sadhvis, samanis and mumukshus of the Shvetambar Terapanth, for without all of you and your tireless efforts to create a better world this thesis would never have been even a notion of a thought in my mind. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to extend my deepest and sincere gratitude to each and every individual who helped me in my thesis journey. To the Parmarthik Shikshan Sanstha, I could not have gathered as much data and insight about the aspirants and nuns without the assistance of this institute. To Acharya Mahasharmanji, for the blessing and the motivational words which helped me to accept the challenge to understand the congregation. To Sadhvi Pramukha Kanakprabhaji for giving me spiritual motherly advice and giving me the courage to carry on. To my former sister, Sadhvi Siddharprabhaji, for the advice, guidance and mental strength to face every struggle in this thesis journey. I cannot forget Samani Shukla Prajna, Samani Unnata Prajna and Samani Rohit Prajna, who have been my mental and physical strength during my stay in Miami, far from my homeland. To all other Samanijis for giving the immense spiritual guidance and explaining to me the functioning of the institute during my stay at Ladnun. I thank them for the tireless efforts in assisting me with hours and hours of discussion for my better understanding. I thank Dr. Steven Vose. I cannot imagine where this thesis and I would be without his undying support and belief in my project and me. He has been more than my guiding light throughout my MA journey. He was my moral support through thick and thin. Words cannot describe how he helped me to survive the storm and finish on top. Thank you to my other committee members, Dr. Christine Gudorf and Dr. Albert Wuaku. They both have truly shown me what excitement and pure interest manifests into. I cannot picture the process of developing this thesis without the entire committee’s dedication, engagement and mentorship. I am grateful to the Religious v Studies department at Florida International University. Dr. Oren Stier, Dr. Erik Larson, Dr. Nathan Katz, Prof. Daniel Alvarez and all my professors contributed to this project and my academic and personal development in their own unique ways. I wish to thank Rajiv and Latika Jain, whose fellowship funded my studies at FIU. I also thank the Jain Education and Research Foundation (JERF), which provided funding for my research in summer 2015. I thank them for recognizing the great potential and contribution of my work to the academic field. I hope and believe the investment made in my research and myself has proven to be valuable to the world at large. I would like to thank my friends for unquestioning love and friendship. Thank you for believing in me and for the ample amounts of much needed comic relief and for serving as my family away from home. Thank you to all my family and friends for providing light, warmth and laughter on this journey. vi ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS THE TRANSFORMATIONS AND CHALLENGES OF A JAIN RELIGIOUS ASPIRANT FROM LAYPERSON TO ASCETIC: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY OF SHVETAMBAR TERAPANTHI FEMALE MUMUKSHUS by Komal Ashok Kumar Florida International University, 2016 Miami, Florida Professor Steven M. Vose, Major Professor This thesis explores the challenges that Shvetambar Terapanthi Jain female mumukshus (religious aspirants) face during their training at the Parmarthik Shikshan Sanstha, an institute unique to this sect dedicated to training young females to become nuns. The educational requirements, secluded social environment, disciplined rules, and monastic hierarchies train aspirants to understand the demands of nunhood. Based on interviews and observations, aspirants express their struggle to balance the personal desire to progress spiritually toward liberation (moksha) that motivated them to renounce with the requirement to raise their juniors as part of the ascetic community, a new kind of familial structure. The disparity in the training of female and male renouncers in the Terapanth reveals problems that remain in the gendered way female renouncers are treated in their training. Renunciation is shown not to be gender neutral, leading to a more nuanced understanding of Jain asceticism in contemporary India. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 The Shevtambar Terapanth Congregation ................................................................ 4 The Parmarthik Shikshan Sanstha – Institute for Training in the Religious Life ..... 6 Upasika, Mumukshu, Samani, Sadhvi – Levels of Ordination ............................... 11 Review of Literature ............................................................................................... 13 Methodology ........................................................................................................... 18 Plan of the Thesis .................................................................................................... 19 1. Institutionalized Training: A History of the Parmarthik Shikshan Sanstha ........... 24 Why the Parmarthik Shikshan Sanstha Became Necessary .................................... 26 A Brief History of the Parmarthik Shikshan Sanstha ............................................. 27 From a Mobile to a Fixed PSS ................................................................................ 28 Early Challenges of the PSS ................................................................................... 31 Formalizing the PSS Rules and Regulations .......................................................... 33 Illustrating Celibacy: The Story of Mumukshu Kiran ............................................ 33 Routine of Aspirants at PSS .................................................................................... 36 Mumukshu – A Seeker with a Desire for Liberation .............................................. 38 Curriculum and Tensions of Mumukshu at PSS ..................................................... 41 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 45 2. Understanding Karma and Renunciation as an Aspirant ....................................... 47 Jain Karma Theory and Renunciation ..................................................................... 48 Why Renunciation? ................................................................................................. 51 Aspiring to Achieve Moksha – Ekbhavatari ..........................................................
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