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dwellers. Facing their wrath bravely and without abandoning his mission, he firmly preached and propagated the doctrine of Paur am yaka gaccha. Until the establishment of his gaccha, A ahillapura Pa a a was under the predominant influence of Temple dwellers, enjoying patronage of kings as well. This also restricted him, for a long time from propagating his beliefs. He had to encounter strong antagonism of many well organised and powerful gacchas of Temple dwellers and Suvihita traditions.
In course of time many branches sprang out from Paur am yaka gaccha. Their names are as follows:
1.
Pr im gaccha Dhandhariy branch. It was considered as the chief branch. It was named after the third crya Samudra Gho a. S rddha (S dhu) P r im gaccha – Actually this was a branch of Paur am yaka gaccha; however, as time passed, it became independent with the name S dhu-Prim gaccha. Bh mapall ya P r im gaccha The fourth branch of P r im gaccha. Influential c ryas like Dharma ekhara, Vi lar ja, Padma ekhara and Jinahar a belonged to this gaccha. Pr im gaccha Va apadr ya branch Pr im gaccha Borasiddh ya branch Pr im gaccha Bh gukacch ya branch P r im gaccha Ch pariy branch
Many scholarly author- c ryas belong to P r im gaccha. Even Paur am yaka gaccha owes its origin to religious reform movement. The righteous rama as, who cherished profound faith in Jain scriptures propounded by omniscient, launched religious reforms, time and again, to eradicate the non-scriptural code of conduct and dubious methods introduced into the Jain doctrine by Temple dwellers tradition when the latter was in its full glory. Paur am yaka sect was the offshoot of such reform movements.
According to Pa val of Badagaccha, Candraprabha S ri , the codisciple of Municandra S ri, 40th Pontiff of Mah v ra (according to S rin m ni, 415 Pontiff vehemently opposed the new tradition of installation of Jina idols by S dhus. He declared that consecratory
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