Book Title: Epitome of Jainism
Author(s): 
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown

Previous | Next

Page 716
________________ AN EPITOME OF JAINISM. from the different Jain teachers, who assumed themselves as heads of their own gachhas, alleging differences in religious practices and holding different interpretations of the texts of the Satras. These Sutras of the Jain Siddhanta of the Swetambaris were handed down orally till they were reduced to writing about 980 years after Mahavir's nirvan (453 A. D.) by Devardhigani Kshamashraman who was a pupil of Lohitya Suri, in the city of Vallabhi in Gujrat, before a great Council which met for the purpose. The Swetambar Church have got lists of their gachlas and their members and these throw much light on the dark pages of Indian History. The mention of Jain hierarchs, teichers and their schools in the inscription discovered at Mathura and other places of late, is of great importance to verify the statements in Kalpa Sutra and other Jain texts of such gana or gachha (the school) the Kula (the line) and Shakha (the branch) of the main Jain Church. Its literature has preserved the list of Suris or hierarchs, noting down the important events during their time. Therein we find 656

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 814 815 816 817 818 819 820 821 822 823 824 825 826 827 828 829 830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 839 840 841 842 843 844 845 846 847 848 849 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860