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JAIN CHURCH that after Udyotan Suri, his eighty-four disciples started 84 gachhas (937 A. D.) as all of them were created Acharyas by him. Although many of them are extinct now, yet they are of great value and the Swetambar literature possesses complete lists of the heads of the gachhas from this Acharya.
We give below, in brief, an account of the heads of the Church from Mahavir, the last Tirthankar up to Acharya Udyotan, as far as could be gathered from the matter available to us. Further Chronological lists are given in the Appendix and they may be useful for reference.
1. Mahavira. He belonged to Ikshwaku Kula, Kâsyap gotra, was the son of King Siddhartha of Kshatri-kund, a town in Magadh and queen Trisalâ. Born in 599 B.C. on.Chaitra Sukla 13. He passed 30 years as a householder, 12 years 6 months and I fortnight in Chhudamast State -(Intermediate state between a house holder and a perfect sage) and 29 years 5 months and 15 days as a Kevali, till he attained nirvân at the age of 72 in the town of Pâpå about 8 miles from modern Bihar
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