ABSTRACT
The gradual consolidation of Jain identity and the necessity for an expanding ascetic community to be supported on a regular basis led to an early acceptance of the lay estate as constituting a vocation in its own right. The ‘Exposition of Explanations’ contains only sporadic references to lay practice,1 but the acknowledgement in the Åva¬yakas¨tra of a distinction between monk and layman and the existence in the later portions of the flvetåmbara scriptural canon of extensive narrative material describing the pious deeds of ‘lay attenders’ (upåsaka) demonstrates that this was a matter of some importance for the ancient teachers.
