Agam 30 Prakirnak 07 Gacchachar Sutra

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

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XXVI : GACCHĀCĀRA PRAKĪRNAKA
Višsāvaśyaka Bhāsva.
After the Oghaniryukti, the next mention of Gaccha is found in Haribhadra's Pañcavastu (circa 8th century). There the word Gaccha has not only been used for a monastic group but its meaning has been further clarified by saying that the group of monks and nuns of a guru is called gaccha." From the etymological point of view also the word Gaccha means 'to go', hence, it is quite logical that a group of monks and/or nuns who went about their monastic tours together were called a Gaccha. However, in this sense, too, its usage is found only sometime after the 6th century only because there is no inscriptional or literary evidence available to suggest its use, for a monastic group, at an earlier time. In the olden times the words such as Gana, kula, Sakhā, and Anvaya only were used in the sense of classifying the monastic groups
Towards the end of the roll of heads of monastic groups in the Kalpasūtra we find the mentions of coming into being of the four families called 1. Nivrtti Kula, 2. Candra kula, 3. lidvadhara Kula and 4. Nāgendra Kula after about 600 years after the nirvana of Lord Mahāvīra. From these four families only came the four gacchas called 1. Nivrtti Gaccha, 2. Candra Gaccha, 3. Vidyādhara Gaccha and 4. Nāgendra Gaccha. It, therefore seems that what were referred to as Kulas in the ancient past later came to be known as Gacchas. Whereas in the olden times the word Gaccha meant a group of monks and/or nuns that went about their monastic tours together, later it came to mean the family of
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“Guruparivāro Gaccho tattha vasantāna nijjarā viulā | Vinayāo taha säranamāīhim na dosa padivvatti l" - Pañcavastu, haribhadrasūri, Sri Devacandra Lalbhai Jain
Pustakoddhar, verse 696.