ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to identify bhikun vihriksor monastic convents for the Buddhist nuns. Along with the exercise of identifying and locating the documentary and literary evidence on nunneries and corroborating it with actual archaeological evidence on the ground, the concept of individual and communal spaces for the bhiksin architectural plans of vihras will be explored. The survey of literary data on the subject takes into account all the direct and indirect references to bhiks and nunneries from various texts like the Therigth, the Mahasamghika Vinaya and the like. In order to assess and identify nunneries, a comprehensive analysis of the monastic structures from the excavated Buddhist sites together with the associated finds has been undertaken. Literary evidences of nunneries in direct terms, though meagre, give sporadic insights to certain aspects of identifying the Bhik Vihras. Nunneries rarely had the economic resources, the organisational structure or able teachers to impart higher education.
