Jain Journal 1974 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 66

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JAIN JOURNAL
and sākhā 'branches'. Exactly the same division into gana sākhā, and kula is found in a list in one of the canonical works of the Svetambaras, the Kalpa Sutra, which gives the number of the patriarchs and of the schools founded by them, and it is of the highest importance, that, in spite of mutilation and faulty reproduction of the inscriptions, nine of the names, which appear in the Kalpa Sutra are recognisable in them, of which, part agree exactly, part, through the fault of the stone-mason or wrong reading by the copyist, are somewhat defaced. According to the Kalpa Sutra, Susita, the ninth successor to Vardhamana in position of patriarch together with his companion Supratibuddha, founded the 'Kodiya' or ‘Kautika gaña' which split up into four 'sākhā', and four ‘kula'. Inscription No. 4. which is dated in the year 9 of the king Kaniska or 87. A.D. (?) gives us a somewhat ancient form of the name of the gana Kotiya and that of one of its branches exactly corresponding to the Vairi šākhā. Multilated or wrongly written, the first word occurs also in inscriptions Nos. 2, 6 and 9 as koto, kattiya and ka...... the second in No. 6 as Vora. One of the families of this gana, the Vaniya kula is mentioned in No. 6, and perhaps in No. 4. The name of a second, the Prasnavahanaka seems to have appeared in No. 19. The last inscription mentions also another branch of the Kotiya gana, the Majhima sākhā, which, according to the Kalpa Sūtra, was founded by Priyagantha the second disciple of Susthita. Two still older schools which according to tradition, sprang from the fourth disciple of the eighth patriarch, along with some of their divisions appear in inscriptions Nos. 20 and 10. These are the Aryya-Udehikiya gana, called the school of the AryaRohana in the Kalpa Sūtra, to which belonged the Parihasaka kula and the Purnapatrika sākhā, as also the Carana gana with the Pritidharmika kula. Each of these names is, however, somewhat mutilated by one or more errata in writing.
The statements in the inscriptions about the teachers and their schools are of no small importance, in themselves for the history of the Jainas. If, at the end of the first century A.D. (?) many separate schools of Jaina ascetics existed, a great age and lively activity, as well as great care as regards the traditions of the sect, may be inferred. The agreement of the inscriptions with the Kalpa Sutra leads still further however : it proves on the one side that the Jainas of Mathura were Svetambara, and that the schism, which split the sect into two rival branches occured long before the beginning of our era ; on the other hand it proves tha the tradition of the Svetambara really contains ancient historic elements, and by no means deserves to be looked upon with distrust. It is quite probable that, like all traditions, it is not altogether free from error. But it can no longer be declared to be the result of a later intentional