Jain Journal 1977 01

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

Page 41

112
of different groups of Jaina merecantile community from Rajasthan and Gujarat with the sole mission of commercial interest there and vihārayātrā of the Jainacaryas like Acarya Tulsi with his Anuvrata movement and other Acaryas to those places and in general Saivism gradually encroached upon the parts of the Jaina mission-territory in India.99 There has occurred the great downfall of Jaina-dharma and its Sanghas, and gana-gacchas from a glorious height in this period in India as result of monastic capitalism of the Jainas.100
JAIN JOURNAL
The outstanding feature of modern era of Jaina Sangha or Sanghas is origination, differentiation and final extinction101 of a great variety of Jaina sects of which there are at least six main divisions. Although Tapagaccha and Kharataragaccha are still dominant in some parts of Western India, many other important gacchas have evolved in the fifteenth-sixteenth century A.D. onward, e.g., Lunka or Lonkagaccha,102 Kadua-mara,103 Bija-mata,104 and Parsvacandra-mata.105 Lonkagaccha106 was founded by Lonka Shah, once a follower of Tapagaccha in the fifteenth Century A.D. with the idea of anti-image cult. Next there issued Sthanakvasi sect 107 from Lonkagaccha on the question of moral laxity and Terapanthi sect108 from Sthanakvasi sect. under the spiritual guidance of Bhikhamji or Bhikhuji as a result of some crisis over the matter of some monastic ethical rules, such as daya-dharma and conduct of monks,
99 The rise of Saivism in South and the conflict between Saivism and Jainism led to the clash between the followers of these two faiths in Maharashtra, Karnataka and other places. The archaeological evidences of the Siva temple at Kolhapur and other places show that the Saivites forcibly converted the Jaina temples into the Saiva temples by installing the image of Siva there.
100 It is a question for the scholars to enquire whether the capital of devadravyas collected from the Jaina Sravakas in cash and kind leads to monastic capitalism under the leadership of each Jaina Sanghapati or not.
101 E.g., Lunkagaccha is heard no more with its vigorous message of anti-image cult.
102 See Pattavali Samuccaya, Pt. I, pp. 66, 67, 150-172.
108 See Pattavali Samuccaya, Pt. II, pp. 246-47.
104 Ibid., p. 247.
105 Jain Sraman Sanghka Itihas, p. 106; Pattavali Samuccaya, Pt. II, p. 248. 106 Pattavali Samuccaya, Pt. I, pp. 66-67.
107 Really speaking, the birth of Sthanakvasi sect took place from Lonkagaccha in the time of Dharmasinghji, Dharmadasa and Labji. The name Sthanakvasi came to be known later on. See Pattavali-paraga Sangraha, Kalyanvijayaji, p. 406.
108 Terapanthi sect was founded by Acarya Bhikhamji in the eighteenth century A.D. on the basis of thirteen principles, viz five great vows (panca mahavrata), five rules of conduct (samitis) and three self-controls of body mind and speech (guptis). See Pattavali-paraga Sangraha, p. 424.