Svatantratā (Freedom): A New Perspective on Female Renunciation

Auteurs-es

DOI :

https://doi.org/10.12794/journals.sujjs.v2i1.313

Mots-clés :

gender, renunciation, empowerment, mendicant communities

Résumé

Although women constitute the majority of the Jain ascetic population, gender-based doctrinal interpretations and patriarchal structures within mendicant communities limit women’s roles and mobility. This paper explores dynamics regarding gender across both Śvetāmbara and Digambara sects. Through this exploration, we find examples of Jain nuns emerging as figures who subvert systemic subordination while utilizing asceticism as a source of empowerment to initiate change and express agency.

 

Biographie de l'auteur-e

  • Sofia Symon, University of California, Santa Barbara

    Sofia Symon is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she earned a B.A. in Political Science. Having been both baptized and bat mitzvahed, she has always had a curiosity for learning about new religions, which inspired her interest in Jainism upon entering university. She is eager to continue her research in scholarship at the University of Miami School of Law this fall.

Références

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Goldman, Robert P. Foreword to Gender and Salvation: Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Liberation of Women. By Padmanabh S. Jaini. University of California Press, 1991. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520377813-001.

Jacobi, Hermann, trans. The Kalpa Sūtra: Jaina Sūtras, Part I. Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 22. Clarendon Press, 1884.

Jaini, Padmanabh S. Gender and Salvation: Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Liberation of Women. University of California Press, 1991. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520377813.

Jainpedia. “Monks and Nuns,” May 27, 2021. https://jainpedia.org/themes/practices/monks-

and-nuns/.

Sethi, Manisha. Escaping the World: Women Renouncers among Jains. London: Routledge, 2012.

Stuart, Mari Jyväsjärvi. “Male Guardians of Women’s Virtue: A Dharmaśāstric Theme and Its Jain Variations.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 133, no. 1 (2013): 35–56. https://doi.org/10.7817/jameroriesoci.133.1.0035.

Vallely, Anne. Guardians of the Transcendent: An Ethnography of a Jain Ascetic Community. University of Toronto Press, 2002. https://doi.org/10.3138/j.ctt2tv32w.

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Publié

2026-05-20

Numéro

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2026)

Rubrique

Articles

Licence

© Sofia Symon 2026

Licence Creative Commons

Cette œuvre est sous licence Creative Commons Attribution - Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale 4.0 International.

Comment citer

Symon, Sofia. 2026. « Svatantratā (Freedom): A New Perspective on Female Renunciation ». Samyak: An Undergraduate Journal of Jain Studies 2 (1). https://doi.org/10.12794/journals.sujjs.v2i1.313.