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Jaina Rock-cut Caves in Western India Pune. As far as Daulatabad is concerned, it appears that it was closely connected with Gujarat. As stated in the last chapter, Deda, a rich merchant of Avanti built a pośadhaśālā or a monastery here and sent the copies of agamas to bhandaras, while his son Pethada built a temple in the 12th-13th centuries (Sheth 1953: 158-160). Even in the 14th century, one Sahajapala is known to have erected a temple of twenty-four tirthankaras here (Sheth 1953: 171-172). The fact that the famous Svetāmbara acharya Hiravijasuri in young age, had come to Daulatabad from Gujarat for further studies (Sheth 1953: 259-260) and in 1440 CE, a Jaina teacher Mahade converted the Digambaras of Daulatabad to the Svetāmbara sect (Sharma 1940: 8) suggests that the Svetāmbaras were very strong here. It could be because of increased trade and/or political relations between Gujarat and Maharashtra during this period and Daulatabad, being the capital of Yadavas and eventually of the Muslim rulers, attracted the Svetambara Jainas from Gujarat.
Jaina sangha was divided into various hierarchical groups from the earliest times as indicated by ganas, sakhās, kulas and sambhogas mentioned in the Mathura inscriptions and the Kalpasutra (Deo 1954-55: 515-518). These groups appeared as regional divisions or as groups of followers of particular originator. With the passage of time Svetāmbaras were further divided into number of groups. The gachha became prominent and replaced gana, while the unit of sambhoga almost disappeared. The rise of gachhas is traditionally assigned to disciples of Uddyotansuri in about the 10th century CE, when, it is said, that eighty-four gachhas arose, though the actual number exceeds eighty-four (Deo 1954-55: 519). On the other hand, Digambaras were divided into sanghas, which were sub-divided in the units of gana, gachha, anvaya, bali etc. (Deo 1954-55: 545-557). The hierarchical position of these units is not definite.
There is no reference to any Svetambara community in the early inscriptions of Maharashtra. The aforementioned Kalvan plates only makes mention of Svetāmbara acharya Ammadeva. However, the post-14th century inscriptions from Pune and Sirpur refer to a number of Svetāmbara communities. On the other hand, various Digambara sub-divisions are mentioned. Since not many inscriptions provide these details, we have very limited data. A list of Sangha-Gaņa-Gachha-Anvaya mentioned in the inscriptions is provided below.
Digambara sub-sects mentioned in the inscriptions from Maharashtra
SANGHA
GACHHA
ANVAYA
INSCRIPTION Altem, 8th century CE
GANA Srimula, a tree which sprang
from Kanakopala
Dravida
Mūla
Vinnaryya or
Chinaryya Kondakund and Pustaka
Desiya
Vajirkheda, 915 CE Nimbaragi, 1080 CE Dharmapuri, 11th century CE Dharmapuri, 11th century CE Murum, 11th century CE
Yāpaniya
Yupaniya
Vamdiyur
Yapaniya
Sena
