Jain Journal 2007 01

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

Page 14

SagarmalJain : How appropriatcisthe Propositionof Neodigambara School?
127
the commentator of Sanmatitarka, was a Digambara whereas in the commentary itself Abhayadeva, has mentioned himself as a disciple of Pradyumnasūri of Candraguccha. Not only this, in the last colophon of the Pārsvanāthacaritra, too, he has been mentioned as Svetāmbara grāmanīya. Even this helief of Dr. Nagarajaiah that Siddhasena and Jațāsimhanandi, too, were Neo-Digambaras is not logical. Siddhasena was an ācārya of pre sectarian division period, and Jațāsimhanandī is clearly Yapaniya. The belief that all the ācāryas that have ‘sena' in their names are from the Sena sect is also not truc. In all the thrcce traditions - Digambara, Svetāmbara and Yāpaniya - there have been a number of ācāryas who ended with the suffix 'sena'. Therefore, it is not proper to call all ūcāyas with 'senu'cnding names as NeoDigambaras.
A sect by the name of Neo-Digambara never existed. If there ever has been a sect that has acted as a bridge between the Digambara and Svetāmbara sect, it has been the Yāpaniya sect. Yāpanias are Digambara only as they support unclothed clergy. I am pained to see as to why the Digambara scholars frown at them by considering them as different. If they have no objection to the Dravida and Māthura sanghas, and their literature, even when they have been mentioned as Quasi-Jaina sanghas (Jainābhāsa), if they can accept the literature of the Bhattārakus as their own, then what is the hitch in accepting the Yāpaniyas as Digambaras even after accepting their temples, icons and the literature as such. Why do they feel the need for coining phrases like Neo-Digambara for them. Actually, Yāpaniya is that original tradition from which the traditions of the Digambara and the Svetambaras have developed, and which bridges the gap between the two. The concept of Neo-Digambara will only go to deepen the dividing line between us whereas the Yāpaniya tradition will bring us nearer to each other, which is the need of the time.
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