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bestowed crya rank upon his disciples under Va a (p pala) tree, the gaccha came to be known as Va a gaccha.
As this gaccha consisted of many disciples and successors who imbibed the qualities of their preceptor, like matchless brilliance, profound knowledge, perception, conduct etc. and as the gaccha became astronomical in size with great number of monks and followers, it became famous as V had (very big) gaccha.
Thus, the fifth name of group of his followers became famous as Va a or V had gaccha in Vikram 994, within a span of 1464 years, i.e. from the year of V.N. to V.N. 1464. The details of these 5 gacchas, like date of their origin, the c ryas of that time period etc. are given below.
1.
From first year of V.N. to V.N. 291, i.e. from rya Sudharm Sw m, the first Pontiff of Mah v ra to crya Suhasti, the 10" successor Pontiff, the Congregation was called as Nirgrantha or A ag ra gaccha.
After rya Suhasti in V.N. 291, rya Susthita and rya Supratibuddha (ga a c rya) succeeded as his successor Pontiffs. Under their regime, the congregation came to be known as 'Kau ika ga a”. Both of them chanted S ri Mantra 10 million (Koi) times. Hence their gaccha became famous as Ko i (Kau ika) gaccha.
The second opinion is that rya Susthita and Supratibuddha were born in
Kau ika and K kandika Nagar s respectively. Susthita was senior in monkhood and older than Supratibuddha. So the congregation was called by the name of his native place Kau ika-ga a, congregation or gaccha. The second name Kau ika was prevalent from V.N. 291 to V.N. 611.
In V.N. 611, the group of followers came to be known as Candra gaccha, after the name of c rya Candra S ri.
During the tenure of S mantabhadra, the successor Pontiff of
c rya Candra S ri, in V.N. 643, the congregation became famous as “Vanav s gaccha'. c rya S mantabhadra was a true
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