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Sacred Correspondences
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A Broom Carried So No Insect Is Crushed by Sitting

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A Broom Carried So No Insect Is Crushed by Sitting

The rajoharan, also called the ogho or picchi depending on order and region, is a small whisk broom carried at all times by Jain mendicants, used to gently sweep the ground or a seat clear of insects before sitting or lying down, so that the mendicant's own movement does not injure a living creature too small to notice by eye alone. It is one of the very few possessions a Jain mendicant is permitted to own, alongside the alms bowl and a few other minimal implements, and its constant presence in hand or at the belt is itself a visible declaration of monastic status, recognizable to any Jain layperson at a glance.

Construction differs by lineage: in the Svetambara orders it is made of woollen threads fixed to a short wooden handle, while Digambara mendicants, who otherwise renounce clothing entirely, carry a whisk of peacock feathers, feathers that are naturally shed by the bird rather than taken by killing it, a distinction Jain teaching treats as important given the tradition's absolute rule against causing death. The whisk is used before almost every change of position during the day, not only at the start of formal sitting practice, so the gesture is repeated many times and becomes, with long practice, close to automatic rather than a deliberate pause before each movement.

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