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Jainism in Mathura
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Buhler, too, did not mention this unit in his writings on this subject.289 But we find frequent mention of the unit called the sambhoga in the Jaina inscriptions of the Kuşāņa period discovered at Mathurā. The fragment of a Jaina inscription in mixed dialect discovered from Kankālī ļīlā, Mathurā reads:
Dedication by Mittrā (Mitrā), first wife of ... daughter-in-law of the ironmonger ... daughter of the ... at the request of the preacher (vāchaka)..., the pupil of ... the preacher, ..., who was the companion of the gamin ..., who was the pupil of ...out of the Kottiya gana, the Brahmdāsika kula, the Uchchairnāgarī sākhā, the Śrīgyha sambhoga.290
The statements about the Jaina religious teachers and their schools embodied in the Jaina inscriptions of Mathurā are important for the study of the early history of Jainism.291 Buhler's study of these epigraphs revealed that out of the eight ganas mentioned in the Sthavirāvali of the Kalpasūtra, three or possibly four ganas existed in Mathurā in the Kusāna period. 292 He also found that out of the numerous kulas and sākhās mentioned in the Kalpasūtra, twenty existed in Mathurā in the Kusāna period. 293 Buhler's view that the Jainas ir Mathurā belonged to the Śvetāmbara sect during the Kuşāņa period was formed on the basis of this similarity.294 We have already stated that there is no hint of the split in the Jaina Church of Mathurā in this city's inscriptions of the Kuşāņa period.
The eight ganas mentioned in the Kalpasūtra are - (1) the Cāraņa gana, (2) The Godāsa gaņa, (3) the Kodiya gaña, (4) the Māņava gaņa,(5) the Uddeha gana, (6) the Uduvādiya gana (7) the Uttarabalissaha gana and (8) the Vesavāờiya gana.295 Out of these eight gaņas, three — (1) The Vāraṇa gaņa,296
289. OISJ, pp. 42-3. 290. EI, X, Appendix, no. 29. 291. OISJ, p. 58. 292. Ibid., pp. 58-60. 293. Ibid. 294. Ibid., p. 44.
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