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Origin and Growth of Jaina Monachism in Karnataka
order such as the Mula Sangha, Deśiya gana, Pustaka gaccha and Piriyasamudāya.1
The monastic orders mentioned above suffered from internal bickerings, which first appeared in the Mula Sangha, the oldest monastic order of the Digambara monks. This united original order first split into two permanent sects, the Digambaras who remained completely nude and the Svetämbaras who put on white cloth to cover nudity in the first-second centuries. The presence of the Śvetāmbaras is attested by the Kadamba Copper Plates of the 5th century. They obtained considerable success in proselytizing the south Indian people in the beginning but subsequently lagged behind the Digambaras and almost vanished from the scene."
The Digambara monastic order figured prominently in the history of the Jaina Church of south India. They first appeared in an inscribed record of the 4th century. Candranandi and other monks of the Sri Mula Sangha are again mentioned in an another inscription of the 5th century. Kundakundänvaya, which is met in an epigraph of the same century, was possibly the synonym of the Mula Sangha. It was named after the famous Jaina teacher Kundakunda, who flourished in the south during the early years of the Christian era.
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The Yapaniya Sangha which was another important monastic order, next to the Mūla Sangha, flourished in the northern and southern parts of Karnataka. It had much in common with both the Digambaras and the Svetāmbaras, and its teachers played a distinguished role in propagating the Jaina faith in south India and influencing its monastic traditiThe influence was exercised from Karnataka, which was the main sphere of the Yapaniya activities Excepting one or two stray references to their existence in the Telgu country,
ons.
1. P.B. Desai, op. cit., p. 247.
2. Ibid. p. 98.
3. EC, x, ML 73, pp. 172-3.
4. Ibid. ML 72, p. 172. 5. Ibid 1, Cg I, p. 51.
