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sect.
88 HISTORY OF THE JAINA COMMUNITY a Śvetāmbara layman named Bhāņaji was convinced and decided to become a sādhu. As there was no guru obtain. able, he ordained himself and became the first Ācārya of the Lonkā sect. The office of Ācārya might almost be said to have become hereditary in his hands; for though, of course, he had no descendants, yet he himself selected from the Lońkā sādhus the one who should fill the office of Acārya on his death; his successor did the same, and this custom
exists amongst the Lonkā Jaina down to the present day. The
Some of the members of the Lonkā sect disapproved of Sthāna- the lives of their sadhus, declaring that they lived less kavāsi
strictly than Mahāvīra would have wished. A Lonkā lay. man, Viraji of Surat, received initiation as a sādhu and won great admiration through the strictness of his lifc. Many from the Lońkā sect joined this reformer, and they took the name of Sthānakavāsi 1 whilst their enemies called them Dhundhiä.2
The present writer had the pleasure of mecting the Ācārya of the Sthānakavāsi sect, a gentleman named Sri Lālajī, whom his followers hold to be the scventy-eighth Ācārya in direct succession to Mahāvira. Many sub-sects have arisen amongst the Sthānakavāsi Jaina, and each of these has its own Ācārya, but they all unite in honouring Sri Lālaji as a true ascetic. Excepting on the crucial point of idol-worship, the Sthānakavāsi differ very little from the Svetāmbara sect out of which they sprang, often indeed calling themselves Sthānakavāsi Svetāmbara.
1 Those who live in Apāsarā (not in temples). 2 Searchers. This title has grown to be quite an honourable one.
