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## Introduction
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It is said that they also had a name 'Dev'. It seems that their initiation name was 'Devanandi', and the mentioned Acharyas have used 'Dev' as a shortened form of this name. Therefore, this is not an independent name, but appears to be a shortened form of the name 'Devanandi'.
3 The history of the origin of the Sanghas (groups) has been given by Indranandi in his Shrutavatar. He writes that when one hundred Yojanas of Munis (ascetics) gathered together, under the supervision of Acharya Ahmbali, who was knowledgeable in the eight limbs of conduct and followed the pure practices of Dharana (concentration) and Prasarana (expansion), and were performing the Yugapratkram (cycle of time), at the end of the Yuga, while performing the Yugapratkram, Acharya Arhadbali asked the assembled Munis if all the Yatis (ascetics) had arrived. The Yatis replied that they had arrived with their respective Sanghas. Hearing this reply, he realized that this was the Kali Yuga (dark age). In this age, the Yatis would be divided by factions, and would not remain in a state of equanimity. With this thought, he gave the name 'Nandi' to some of those who had come from the cave, and 'Veer' to others. He gave the name 'Aparajit' to some of those who had come from the Ashoka Vatika (garden), and 'Dev' to others. He gave the name 'Sen' to some of those who had come from the Panchastupa (five mounds), and 'Bhadra' to others. He gave the name 'Ghandhar' to some of those who had come from the Shalmali Mahadrum (tree), and 'Gupt' to others. He gave the name 'Singh' to some of those who had come from the root of the Khandakesar tree, and 'Chandra' to others.
This shows that the original Sanghas, which were previously united and free from divisions of Sanghas and Ganas (groups), became divided into many parts. This is the story of the origin of the various Sanghas. Now, let us look at the lineage of the Nandi Sanghas, which is mentioned here. Shubhachandracharya, in his Pandav Purana, while mentioning his Guru lineage, writes:
Shrimaalsandhe'jani Nanvisanghastasmim Balaatkaargano'tiramyah.
Tatrabhavatpurvapadaamshaveedi Shrimaadhanandi Naradevavandhah. ||2||
This states that the Nandi Sanghas are a part of the Balaatkaar Gana, which is a part of the original Sanghas. In this lineage, there was Acharya Maghanandi, who was knowledgeable in the earlier scriptures and was revered by both humans and gods.
After this, the lineage mentions the names of 4 Jinachandra, 5 Padmanandi (according to this lineage, Padmanandi had four other names - Kundakunda, Vakragriva, Elacharya and Gaddhaprichch), 6 Umaswati, the author of the Tattvarth Sutra, 7 Lohacharya, 8 Yash:kiiti, 9 Yashonandi and 10 Devanandi. All these names are found in the lineage of the Nandi Sanghas in the same order. Further, in this lineage, after 11 Gunanandi, the name of 12 Vachanandi appears. However, in the lineage of the Nandi Sanghas, after 11 Jayanandi and 12 Gunanandi, the name of 13 Vajanandi appears.
_ Although the lineage of both of them is almost similar after this, we are not mentioning it here as it is not relevant to the present context. In this context, we only need to mention that Acharya Pujyapada was the head of the Nandi Sanghas, which is a part of the Balaatkaar Gana, which is a part of the original Sanghas. It is also known from other sources that his Gachchha (lineage) was known as 'Saraswati'. It is also known from this that our famous Acharyas Kundakunda and Giddhaprichchha (Umaswati) were the predecessors in this lineage.
4. Life Sketch - Who was Acharya Pujyapada, what were the names of his parents, to which lineage did he belong?
. See Jain Siddhanta Bhaskara Part 1, Kiran 4, Page 51. 2. See Jain Siddhanta Bhaskara, Part 1, Kiran 4, Page 43, for the lineage of Shubhachandracharya.