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JAINA MONASTIC JURISPRUDENCE
35 to or identifying itself with the gaccha which arose in a fairly large number. (DEO, op. cit., pp. 519ff).
The Ohanijjutti (116-117) enjoins every monk to be a member of some gaccha. Later inscriptions show that there was an enormous increase in the number of the gacchas which were formed on regional, personal and incidental basis as also on the strength of some monastic practice. However, since the gana was equated with the gaccha in later days, it would not be incorrect to assume that the rules and regulations pertaining to discipline were the same.
There are other minor units which find mention in the Ovavāiyasutta. For instance, it refers to 'gumma' and the commentator explains it to be a part of a gaccha controlled by the upādhyāya (p. 86). No other information is available regarding this unit.
Similar is the case of yet another unit designated as 'phaddaga' which was a small part of a gaccha and was in charge of the gaṇāvacchedaka (Ova. p. 86). This involves contradictions as it makes the gaņāvacchedaka subordinate to the upādhyāya whereas the Chedasutras lay down identical qualifications for the gaṇavacchedaka and the ācārya, the latter being definitely senior to the upādhyāya. On the basis of this discrepancy, SCHUBRING (Die Lehre der Jainas, article 140) doubts whether these were technical divisions at all.
SCHUBRING's remarks seem to hold good even in the case of the mandali (Ogha. N. 522, 547, 561). This implied the formation of a group of monks for the purpose of waiting upon the ill or for helping the new young entrant to the order etc. The thera or the elderly monk who headed such a group was called the mandalī-thera.
The Sāhā or sākhā was not a unit in the strict sense of the term. JACOBI points out that "it is not quite clear what is meant by gana, kula and sākhā. Gana designates the school which is derived from one teacher; kula, the succession of teachers in one line; śākhā the lines which branch off from each teacher”. (SBE, XXII, p. 288, fn. 2).
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