History of Jaina Monachism

SR No.: 001727
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S B Deo
Publisher: Deccan College Research Institute
Publication Year: 1956
Total Pages: 616
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Principle, & History
File Size: 12 MB

Page 549

544
S. B. DEO
YASASURI:
An epigraph from Ajmer dated V.S. 1242 mentions it.241
From its name it appears that it was started by an ācārya of the same name.
A survey of these gacchas shows that they were formed owing to various reasons as follows: (1) after place names : for instance, Sanderaka, Thirāpadriya, Jira
pallīya, etc.; (2) after caste names : Osvāla and Poravāda, (these are also place
names); (3) after regional names: Bịhad-Gujarati Lonkā; (4) after personal names of ācāryas : Devācārya, Pārsvacandra, etc.; (5) owing to particular incidents: Vada, Rāja, Tapā, etc.; (6) owing to peculiar religious practices: Añcala, etc.; (7) owing to efforts at tightening of moral discipline: the branches of
Tapā and Kharatara.
Regarding these gacchas it may further be noted that the epigraphs prior to the eighth or ninth century A.D. fail to mention any gaccha by name, and that only a few among these are extant now. The Kharatra and the Tapā seem to be very popular among them.
Only a few epigraphs help us in knowing the circumstances that led to the rise of various gacchas, and it is very difficult to say what were the doctrinal or monastic differences of each.
The Kharatara and the Tapā differ from each other regarding the colour of the pots, the Kalyāņkas of Mahāvīra, and the exact day of the full-moon day.
Many of these gacchas seem to have been current mainly in Rajputana and N. Gujarat.
The tendency to create new Gacchas seems to have been very active in the 11th to the 13th centuries of V. E.
The mode of naming the gacchas after place-names seems to have synchronised with the rise of sub-castes. It may be noted that the latter were also styled after place-names.
241. Ibid., I, 530.