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The paternal lineage and the guru lineage. Samantabhadra was one of the most special Acharyas. His fame transcends his guru lineage or gana gaccha; it even surpasses his paternal lineage. And therefore, due to the lack of evidence, if we don't know his guru lineage etc. completely, it's alright; we should leave that concern here and now focus our attention on the qualities of the Acharya. We should try to understand what special qualities he possessed and what service he rendered to religion, country, and society.
_ * In the second inscriptions of Shravanabelagola, and also in the inscriptions of other places, Kundakunda is written as the Acharya of Nandigana and Deshiya gana. Being in the lineage of Kundakunda, Samantabhadra is considered to be the Acharya of Nandigana or Deshiya gana. But in the list of Senagana published in Jain Siddhanta Bhaskar, he is mentioned as the Acharya of Senagana. Although this list is not written in the proper format of a list and it does not mention all the Acharyas in order. Still, it is clear that it includes Samantabhadra among the Acharyas of Senagana. Contrary to these two, the inscription number 108 states that this four-fold division of the sangha, due to the differences of Nandi and Sena etc., arose after the ascension of Bhattakalankdeva to heaven. And therefore, Samantabhadra is neither of Nandigana nor of Senagana; because he lived long before Akalankdeva. In the literature before Akalankdeva, there is no mention of these four types of ganas. In Indranandi's 'Nitisara' and inscription number 105, 'Arhadvali' Acharya is written as the founder of these four sangha; but all this literature is much later than Akalankdeva. Besides this, inscription no. 105 in Tirumakudalu-Narasipur taluk (E.C. III) mentions Samantabhadra as a scholar of the Arungal branch (Anvaya) of Nandi sangha under the Damil sangha. In such a situation, the reader can understand for themselves how confused the matter of Samantabhadra's gana gaccha etc. is.
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