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inquisitives and practitioners of Jainism. These two compositions made
1 mka's name immortal.
S mạera gaccha
S mdera gaccha had been an old gaccha of temple dwellers tradition. It seems that it came into existence in a village called S mder va of M raw da. Therefore it is known as S mder va gaccha. This village is situated near the pilgrimage place N mb r n tha of aiva religion. Another name of S mdera gaccha as S mdesar gaccha also is found in the literature. Nothing definitely can be said about the origin of the name of this gaccha. In the early part of Vikram 10h century this gaccha came into prominence due to its influential c ryas. An influential c rya by the name Ya obhadra who was a disciple of wara of this gaccha existed in the early part of Vikram 10h century. According to hearsays, he was a great scholar of mantras in his time. With the power of his mantras, he converted many non-Jains to Jainism.
Tripu monk Dar anavijayaj in his text “Jain paramapar o itih sa part-1' mentioned the period of crya Ya obhadra as Vikram 968-1029 or 1039. But a review of the events of the life of Balibhadra, chief disciple of crya Ya obhadra, reveals that King Alla a and Balibhadra were contemporaries. When king Alla a lived in hada, then Balibhadra cured his queen R haud of incurable disease in Vikram 973 approximately. The rule of Alla a had been proved to be Vikram 9221010. In this way, the c rya period of Ya obhadra seems to be third quarter of Vikram 10' century.
It has been established from many valid proofs that c rya Ya obhadra was very influential c rya of S mder va gaccha. Even after Ya obhadra, sixteen other influential and talented cryas such as 1, Sumati etc existed in S mder va gaccha. Their ninth crya nti-II in Vikram 1229 (according to the lineage registers) converted many k triya families into Jainism and established another lineage of Osw Is known as
odiy . Twelve castes of Osw ls like Gugaliya, Bhamd r, Catura, D dhediy etc. were also devotees of S mdera gaccha c ryas.
Ya obhadra had two principal disciples namely Balibhadra and
libhadra. Without the permission of his guru, Balibhadra learnt a number of mantras and other skills and started demonstrating their
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