________________
88 HISTORY OF THE JAINA COMMUNITY
a Svetāmbara layman named Bhāņaji was convinced and decided to become a sadhu. As there was no guru obtain. able, hc ordained himself and became the first Ācārya of the Lonkā sect. The office of Ācārya might almost be said to have become hereditary in his hands; for though, of course, hc had no descendants, yet he himself selected from the Lonkā sādhus the one who should fill the office of Acārya on his death; his successor did the same, and this custom
exists amongst the Lorkā Jaina down to the present day. The Some of the members of the Lonkā sect disapproved of Sthāna- the lives of their sādhus, declaring that they lived less kavāsi sect.
strictly than Mahāvīra would have wished. A Lonkā layman, Viraji of Surat, reccived initiation as a sädhu and wo1great admiration through the strictness of his lifc. Many from the Lonkā scct joined this reformer, and thcy took the name of Sthänakavāsi 1 whilst their enemics called them Dhundhiā.?
The present writer had the pleasure of mceting the Ācārya of the Sthānakavāsi scct, a gentleman named Sri Lālaji, whom his followers hold to be the seventy-eighth Ācārya in direct succession to Mahāvira. Many sub-sects have arisen amongst the Sthānakavāsi Jaina, and cach of these has its own Acārya, but they all unite in honouring Sri Lālaji as a true ascetic. Excepting on the crucial point of idol-worship, the Sthānakavāsi differ very little from the Svetāmbara sect out of which they sprang, often indeed calling themselves Sthanakavāsi Svetāmbara.
Those who live in Apāsarā (not in temples). · Searchers. This title has grown to be quite an honourable one.
