The Gift of Food to a Wandering Cow: Lay-Mendicant Interaction Among the Jains

John E. Cort

The Gift of Food to a Wandering Cow: Lay-Mendicant Interaction Among the Jains

In: Ascetic Culture

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John E. Cort

John E. Cort Department of Religion Denison University Granville U.S.A.

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 89–110

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004476486_009

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Abstract

This essay approaches world renunciation among the Jains not as an ideological construct in which the social world is transcended, but rather as a socially interactive practice. The ongoing transactional relationship between renouncers and laity is investigated in terms of the gifting of food to the renouncers among the Śvetāmbar Mūrtipūjak Jains. A comparison is made of this exchange with Digambar gifting of food to renouncers, and a range of Hindu prestations involving the transfer of demerit (pāp) in order to maximize the donor’s ontological status. Through this comparison we are able to see certain structural similarities within the two Jain examples, despite seemingly crucial differences in performance. Further, we can see how these Jain exchanges fit into broader South Asian paradigms, and at the same time exhibit specifically Jain understandings of karma, merit, and demerit.

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Ascetic Culture

Renunciation and Worldly Engagement

Series: International Studies in Sociology and Social Anthropology, Volume: 73

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004476486

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 01 Jan 1999

Subjects
- Social Sciences
  - Asian Studies

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The Gift of Food to a Wandering Cow: Lay-Mendicant Interaction Among the Jains

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Ascetic Culture

Renunciation and Worldly Engagement

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