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Noteworthy works after that period are Mahäpurän of Digambar Acharya Jinsen (770-850) and Trishashti Shaläkä Purush of Hemchandrächärya (1088-1173). Both these works are voluminous and deal with the lives of Tirthankars and other illustrious personalities. Serious efforts were also made to curtail the excesses of Yatis by Vardhamänsuri in the 11th century. That was continued by his successors Jineshwarsuri and Jindattasuri. The latter is popularly known as Dädä. He founded Kharatar Gacchha meaning the purer sect in about 1150. The excesses of Yati, however, seem to have survived that onslaught.
So far we have talked about contribution of well-known Acharyas. Now we come to the contribution of a layman. He was Lonkäshäh of Ahmedabad. He could not believe that the excesses of Yatis could have the religious sanction. The Agams were, however, not accessible to the laymen. Luckily, a monk once happened to see the neat handwriting of Lonkäshäh. He therefore entrusted the latter with the work of copying Agams. While doing that, Lonkäshah prepared copies for himself too and studied them carefully. Thereby he came to know that there was no sanctity for Yatis. Equipped with that knowledge he came out with a heavy hand against Chaityaväsis in 1451. Based on his study, he also disputed the tradition of idol worship and declared 13 Agams (of the 45 mentioned earlier) as being against the Jain tenets. This was a preamble to setting up Sthänakwäsi sect, which came into being as non-idol worshipping sect in 1474. Bhänjimuni was the first known Muni of that sect. Shwetambar sect was thus divided in two sub-sects. That division was helpful in dealing a deathblow to the evils of Yatis. Sthanakwäsis introduced strict code of conduct for their monks in contrast to Chaitywäsis.
Hirvijayasuri was the well-known Acharya of the next century. He seems to have impressed even emperor Akbar, who issued a proclamation forbidding the animal slaughter on certain days. Poet Banarasidäs also lived during that period. He was born in a Shwetämbar family and was an easy going youth. But when he happened to read Samaysär, he was much impressed. He has written Samaysärnätak, which is a version of Samaysär. The next two known personalities are Yogi Ananadghanji and Upadhyay Yashovijayaji. The real name of the former was Läbhänandji. Since he remained more absorbed to the nature of soul, he is popularly known as Anandghanji. He has written many thought provoking lyrics. The most well known is his Ananadghan Chovisi that contains devotional songs in admiration of all 24 Tirthankars. Upadhyay Yashovijayaji was a prolific writer. He has written almost on every aspect of Jainism in Sanskrit, Prakrit and Gujarati. Soon after that Acharya Bhikshu of the Sthänakväsi sect raised dispute regarding the role of charities etc. in Jainism. He therefore split from that sect and set up a new one in 1727, which came to be known as Teräpanthi sect.
The last one to be mentioned is Shrimad Rajchandra, who was born in 1868. He was a highly gifted person. He could heavily impress even Mahatma Gandhi, who considered Shrimad as his spiritual guide. He has compiled many devotional songs and has written at length about the true nature of soul mostly in the form of letters. His writings are mostly in Gujarati language. His Mokshamälä is an excellent book for the beginners, while Atmasiddhishästra is an outstanding work. That is the prime jewel of his writing, which has influenced many people. He had a plan to propound the true Jainism afresh. Unfortunately, however, he did not survive long and left the mortal body in 1901 at the young age of 33.
