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S. B. DEO tion a number of officers of the Jaina hierarchy. The following officers are mentioned :
(1) Antevāsin (2) Ganin (3) Vācaka
(4) Sraddhacara. The first three are to be found frequently mentioned even in the literary sources, while the last, denoting probably a disciple or a colleague, is rare.
The usual designation by which an ācārya was called seems to have been aryya' (ārya) or 'bhadata' (bhadanta). The ordinary monk was referred to as a 'samana' (śramana), and laywomen as 'samanasāvikā'.3 The "antevāsin' or 'antevāsikini's denoted the male novice and female novice res. pectively. The words 'sisa' or 'sisinī' were also used to denote the same.
It should be noted that the term 'vācaka's suggests that as early as the beginning of the Christian era, the Jaina Church had a class of teachers whose duty was to read and explain religious texts to the junior monks.
The closer we come to the medieval period, we have the predominance of the ācārya, upadhyāya, sūri, ganin and the bhattāraka. These are to be met with in epigraphs belonging mostly to the post-7th century A.D. period.
Besides these, it may be noted that a peculiar officer called the 'mahamandalācārya' is to be found mostly among the Digambara epigraphs of the tenth to the twelfth centuries A.D.9 These were probably the heads of a particular unit (mandala) of monks, and were supreme in power and authority.
That the work of both initiation and instruction was done in some cases by a single ācārya is clear from the fact that 'dikşā-' and 'śruta gurus'10 are mentioned. Of Kumārasena it is said that from him "ascetics received both initiation and instructions”. 11
Contact with other regional languages may be said to have introduced peculiar names and designations in the Church hierarchy. For instance, an
1. E.I., I, 29, p. 395; LÜDERS, List, (E.I. VIII), 57, 99. 2. BÜHLER, E.I., II, 1. 3. LÜDERS, 59. 4. Ibid., 93. 5. Ibid., 67. 6. 'Vācanācārya' is mentioned even in V.S. 1677: NAHAR, I, 2514. 7. E.C., II, 23 of c. 700 A.D. 8. Ibid., II, 13 of c. 700 A.D. 9. Ibid., 238 (1198 A.D.); Ibid., VII, Shik. 120 of 1048 A.D. 10. Ibid., V, Belur, 131: 1274 A.D.; 133 of 1279 A.D. 11. Ibid., II, 67 of 1129 A.D.
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