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440
S. B. DEO
The origin of the Sthānakavāsin branch of the main Svetāmbara sect may be said to be another instance of the triumph of environment on the mould of thought of the Jaina Church, as Mrs. STEVENSON attributes the origin of this sect to the Muslim influence in Gujarat. She remarks, "If one effect of the Mohammedan conquest, however, was to drive many of the Jainas into closer union with their fellow idol-worshippers in the face of iconoclasts, another effect was to drive others away from idolatry altogether. No oriental could hear a fellow oriental's passionate outcry against idolatry without doubts as to the righteousness of the practice entering his mind."'284
Origin: The Lonkā:
Against this influence of the Muslim practice of non-idolatry, one can, perhaps, see the seeds of the origin of this sect.
The story goes that a gentleman from Ahmedabad, called Lonkā Sā belonging to the Svetāmbara sect, had appointed several persons to get the canon copied. In about 1474 A.D., a Svetāmbara monk called Jñānaji requested Lonkā Sā to copy some of these texts for him. While reading these texts Lonkā came to know that there was no reference to idol-worship in those texts. He, therefore, pointed this fact to the Jaina Sadhu who, however, refused to accept Lonkā's views. Lonkā, therefore, started a sect with a single follower by ordaining himself, and started the sect after his name. The system of nominating the next head of the sect by the existing ācārya was started by Lonkā.
Out of the Lonkā sect, there arose a further split on the basis of an advocacy of a stricter monastic life. One Vīraji of Surat, started another sect called the 'Sthānakavāsins' or the 'Dhundia' (The Searchers), and converted many of the followers of the Lonkā sect to his fold.
Their Canon:
According to the list of the Canon as given by Mrs. STEVENSON,285 the Sthānakavāsins seem to recognise the same texts of the Angas and the Upāngas as the “vetāmbaras do. The only difference seems to be regarding the Chedasūtras, Prakīrṇas and the Mülasūtras.
The Sthānakavāsins do not seem to recognise the Mahāniśītha and the Jitakalpa in the list of the Chedasūtras of the Svetāmbaras. They also do
284. Heart of Jainism, p. 19. 285. Op. cit., pp. 13-14,
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