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HISTORY OF JAINA MONACHISM
331 a balance between the duties and the privileges ascribed to them and the misuse of these, was tried to be brought into practice.
The Church seemed to have consisted of different groups of monks forming various church units. Even though the 'gana', 'kula' and the 'sambhoga' were current in the period of the Angas, no definite laws regarding their membership, withdrawal, change and administration can be found in details. On the other hand, the Chedasūtras and the Niryuktis give all rules regarding these aspects of different units and groups. The 'gama' seemed to have been the most important unit in the Chedasūtras, but the Niryuktis betray the rising importance of the 'gaccha' as they refer to the latter more frequently. In fact, the Chedasūtras scarcely seem to refer to the 'gaccha' as an important unit. At the same time it may be noted that the importance and prominence of the 'gaccha' in the Niryuktis also seem to be minor if compared with that in the Prakirņakas a text from which group deals entirely with the 'gaccah'. This importance of the 'gaccha', as we shall see later on, was to eclipse completely the 'gana' in the postCanonical period.
Besides the 'gaña' and the 'gaccha', there arose, it seems, other units like 'gumma', 'phaddaga', etc. But it is very difficult to say whether these were units in the technical sense of the term. They cannot also be taken as being the signs of disintegration of the Church. As a matter of fact, they may well be interpreted as attempts at corporate life in small units due possibly to the expanse of Jainism on account of which it was perhaps not possible to have a large centralised unit under the direct control of a few seniors acting as representatives of the Church. Yet, it is interesting to note that śākhās' or branches, after the senior ācārya and his various disciples, arose in a good number as is evidenced by the Kalpasūtra.
As in the case of its internal administration, so also in the case of the external relations with persons in authority, heretics and the society in general, the Church was shrewd enough to forbid its members to have close intimacy with, as well as bitter hatred against, these. To avoid suspicion in the mind of the public due to close intimacy with the king or his officers, the Church disallowed its followers to worship, show intimacy with, influence or make use of these persons, and the monk who transgressed this rule was punished. On the other hand, in order to keep aloof from political turmoil, they were asked to obey the previous king till a new one was consecrated. Normally, they were not allowed to go to anarchical regions. Thus the Church kept strict neutrality and remained contented to work safely but surely for the spread of Jainism,
From the heretics and householders also, the monks were asked wisely to keep away. In the case of the former, the intention was to maintain the
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