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INTRODUCTION
tentative conclusions. We have some information about some Acharyas who were Caityavāsis or disciples of Caityavāsi preceptors or in whose life we find Caityavāsi practices. The causes and the circumstances which contributed to the rise of the Caityavāsis seem to be practically buried in the past except for our suggestion in the foregoing portion hereof that practices similar to those prevalent amongst them did exist in the past as noted in Avasyaka Niryukti and might have contributed to their ultimate rise. We can therefore place only such facts before the readers as can be gathered on the subject together with our suggestions as to what might have probably occurred which would satisfactorily explain the situation as it might be imagined to have gradually developed. We do it in the hope that it may give an impetus to the antiquarians working in the same field to discover further materials with which a more satisfactory Jain history can be reconstructed.
Although nowadays 'Caitya' means a temple or an idol originally it meant also a memorial constructed on the place of cremation of a dead body or the abode or temple of a Vyantara deity or Yakşa or a sacred tree around which some sort of platform was constructed. Some time in the beginning of the Vikrama era it came to be commonly understood as a temple. 'Caityavāsis' nieant those Jain ascetics who took up their residence in Jain temples. The Jain Sastras however never permitted such residence which was more or less of a permanent character and brought in its train the management and ultimately the ownership of the temples where the particular Sadhus resided. Consequently much laxity in the observance of the rules of conduct for Sädhus prevailed amongst them. The liberties taken originally were slight e.g. acceptance of honorofic paraphernalia of a king such as horse, elephant, palanquin, umbrella and chowries, as an Achārya was considered not only the head of the Sadhus but the spiritual head of the people in no way lesser than the temporal head, a king. In fact, according to Nirvāņakalikā, when Achāryaship was conferred upon a Sädhu, it was the practice inter alia to present to him the
| SR No. | 006540 |
| Book Title | Comparative and Critical Study of Mantrashastra |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Mohanlal Bhagwandas Jhaveri, K V Abhayankar |
| Publisher | Sarabhai Manilal Nawab |
| Publication Year | 1944 |
| Total Pages | 635 |
| Language | English, Sanskrit |
| Classification | Book_English & Culture |
| File Size | 18 MB |