The gift of food to a wandering cow: lay-mendicant interaction among the Jains.

From: Journal of Asian and African Studies | Date: February 1, 1999| Author: | Copyright information

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 Svetambar Murtipujak 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 (pap) in order to maximize the donor's ontological status. Through this comparison we are able to ...

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