History of Jainism

SR No.: 006741
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: U K Sharma
Publisher: D K Print World
Publication Year: 2002
Total Pages: 304
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

Page 182

160
History of Jainism with Special Reference to Mathurā
The title ganin was used for the head of the gana or the school.360 The title vācaka was used for the preacher361 or the teacher.362 The title vācaka mentioned in these inscriptions is pointer of the fact that as early as the first century AD, the Jaina Church at Mathurā possessed a class of teachers who were duty bound to read and explain religious texts to the junior monks. The title vācanācārya was current in Jainism even in the vs 1677,363 and the title väcaka is in use among the Jainas even these days. 364
The acārya, or the senior monk, was called arya 365 or arrya 366 or ārya. 367 Sometimes even the nuns were called ārya 368 instead of āryā. The ordinary monk was called samana,369 i.e., śramana. The lay-devotee was called sāvaka,370 i.e., śrāvaka. The female lay-devotee was called samana-sāvikā,371 i.e., śramanaśrāvikā. Generally speaking, all Jaina monks were called ārya. The title arya was used for the ganin also. 372 The ācārya or the monk was called bhadata or bhadanta also. 373 The ordinary male disciple was called astevāsi374 or śisya.375 The ordinary female disciple was called astevāsinī376 or
360. OISJ, p. 42. 361. EI, I, nos. 3, 4, etc. 362. OISJ, p. 42. 363. HJM, p. 514 fn 6. 364. OISJ, p. 42. 365. EI, II, no. 20. 366. ASIAR, III, no. 3. 367. EI, I, no. 19. 368. Ibid., no. 2. 369. EI, II, no. 1. 370. EI, I, no. 30. 371. EI, X, Appendix, no. 102. 372. EI, I, no. 19. 373. EI, X, Appendix, no. 99. 374. Ibid., no. 93. 375. EI, I, nos. 9, 30, etc.