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and Mūlagaņa are synonymous; therefore, Mūlasaṁgha is actually the earlier name of the Yāpanīya-Samgha. In due course, when the Yāpaniya-Samgha was merged into the Nirgrantha Digambara tradition, the Digambara and Mülasamgha became synonymous.
Bhagavati Ārādhanā by Śivārya is also a work of the Yāpaniya tradition, as its comrnentator Aparājitasūri was undoubtedly an Yāpanīya. Even the Digambara origin of Vaddha-ārādhanā and another ārādhanā also does not prove that the original work was of Digambara origin. Many Śvetāmbara masters such as Haribhadra, Yasovijaya, etc. cannot be Digambara or Bauddha just because they have written commentaries on many Digambara and Buddhist works. The place of honour that Siddhasena Divākara has gained in the Digambara tradition is only because of the qualitative merit of his work. In my book, Taina Dharma Kā Yāpaniya Sampradāya', I have clearly proved that Siddhasena Divākara, the author of Sanmatitarka' was the predecessor of the Svetāmbara and Yāpanīya traditions. It is surprising that a serious scholar of History like Dr. Nagarajaiah has written that Abhayadeva, the commentator of Sanmatitarka was a Digambara. In the commentary itself Abhayadeva has mentioned himself as a disciple of Pradyumnasūri of Candragaccha. Not only this, in the last colophon of the Pārsvanātha-carita, he has been mentioned as Svetāmbara grāmaniya. Dr. Nagarajaiah contention that Siddhasena and Jațāsimhanandī were Neo-Digambaras is not logical. Siddhasena was a ācārya prior to the sectarian division and Jatāsimhanandī was clearly an Yāpanīya. The belief that all the ācāryas having 'sena' in his names are from the Sena sect is also not true. In all the three traditions - Digambara, Śvetāmbara and Yāpaniya - there have been a number of ācāryas whose names ended with the suffix 'sena'. Therefore, it is not proper to call all acāryas with the ending suffix 'sena' as Neo-Digambaras.
A sect by the name of Neo-Digambara never existed. If there
ever has been any sect working as a bridge between Digambara and Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
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