ABSTRACT
Restrictions, watchfulness, and protection serve to separate renouncers from anyone of the opposite gender and therefore serve to guard against sexual transgressions. This chapter contains discussions translated from Hindi with various Svetambar and Digambar nuns and monks in Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat about restrictions and protection related to chastity among Jain renouncers. While female renouncers predominate in Jainism, they are a marginal and small minority in Hinduism. There are mainly two types of renunciations available for women in India, Hindu and Jain. It has been given much attention in Jainism and was deemed important enough to merit the development of strict monastic rules designed to support celibacy and guard against sexual impropriety, especially in the Svetambar sect. Some nuns even claimed that strict Jain regulations are responsible for nuns’ preponderance in Jainism.
