Posted by Sinister Burt on August 11, 2020, 9:56 am, in reply to "Re: Gandi's spectacles"
Maybe there are differeing amounts of extremity in different areas/sects (monks have to beg all their food, so maybe it varies by the wealth of the region). Lay jain don't have to be so extreme with the bug avoiding like the 'monks' (they even have to try to avoid harming bacteria).
It's an ancient tradition alongside hinduism - it was supposedly part of the inspiration for Ashoka the great, though he's most associated with buddishm. If you're interested, the cogito vids about ashoka were worth a look too:
Or this one about another neglected ancient religion, zoroastrianism: