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(p. 382b) explains it as 'egāyariyassa santai' (also Mul. I, p. 143), or the disciples of a particular ācārya. This, however, fails to explain the kula and the rules of its formation and working. It is likely that a kula was headed by a junior officer, and a group of such kulas and their heads were responsible to the ācārya.
The sambhoga is yet another formation referred to in early texts. This has been variously explained as 'a group taking food together' (Uttar. comm. p. 333a), or as a group having a common sāmācārī and taking food together' (Paiya., p. 1062) or as "a group of monks begging alms in one district only" (JACOBI, SBE., XIV, p. 167, fn. 1). The unit is also referred to in the inscriptions from Mathura.
The exact purpose for the formation of the sambhoga is not explicit though it is said that it facilitated exchange of requisites, common study of texts, exchange of food, attending the ill, etc. (Smv. 21b). It is doubtful whether it was a unit in the real sense of the term.
The most important unit is the gaccha which is even now current in Jaina church. It is remarkable to note that it does not occur in the early texts of the Svetambara canon but comes into constant reference in the Nijjuttis. As a matter of fact an entire text among the Painnayas, the Gacchāyārapainṇaya, deals with the gaccha.
There is no unanimity regarding the information as given about the gaccha. For instance, the Ovavāïya (p. 86) explains the gaccha so as to mean the following of one ācārya. The Chedasutras do not mention the gaccha, whereas the Mulācāra commentary makes it a group of seven monks (sāptapurusiko: pt. I, p. 133). In several texts and commentaries, it is equated with the gana. The information as given in the Mulācāra makes it a unit of bigger strength than the gana as the latter required only five person for its formation. On the whole it is not clear what relation gacchas and ganas had between themselves. Later on, however, the gana went out of vogue, giving place
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