Agam 30 Prakirnak 07 Gacchachar Sutra

Author(s): D S Baya
Publisher: Agam Ahimsa Samta Evam Prakrit Samsthan

Page 25

XXIV: GACCHĀCĀRA PRAKĪRṆAKA
Śrenika, 2. Sthavir Ārya Tāpasa, 3. Sthavir Ārya Kubera and 4. Sthavir Arya Rsipālita who respectively founded the branches called 1. Arya Śrenikā, 2. Arya Tāpasù, 3. Ārya Kuberī and 4. Arya Rsipälifa.
Sthavir Arya Simhagiri had four disciples called 1. Sthavir Arya Dhanagiri, 2. Sthavir Ārya Vajra, 3. Sthavir Ārya Sumit and 4. Sthavir Āryarhaddatta. Sthavir Ārya Sumitsūri founded the Brahmadīpika branch and Sthavir Arya Vajrasvāmī founded the branch called Vajrī. Sthavir Arya Vajrasvāmī had three disciples called 1. Sthavir Ārya Vajrasen, 2. Sthavir Arya Pdma and 3. Sthavir Ārya Āryaratha. These three disciples of Sthavir Arya Vajra founded the three branches called 1. Arya Nā gilä, 2. Arya Padmā and 3. Ārya Jayanti respectively.
Like this we find that the mentions of various Gaņas and branches (Śākhā) and famlies (Kula) are found in the roll of heads of monastic groups in the Kalpasūtra but we do not find the mention of any Gaccha anywhere. In the Arddhamāgadhī primary as well secondary canonical literature, too, the word Gaccha has been used in the sense of 'go' and nowhere in the sense of a monastic group.
The inscriptions of the time from the 1" to the 5-6th century AD found at Mathura etc also do not contain the word Gaccha. There, too, the words like Gana, Kula, Śākhā, and Anvaya have been used to mean monastic groups. Even the available ancient inscriptions and treatises of the Digambara and Yāpanīya traditions have also used the words Gaṇa, Kula, Śākhā, and Anvaya in this sense. The usage of the word Gaccha, to mean a monastic group, is found only after the 9th century AD. On the basis of this evidence we can say that the use of the word Gaccha,