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Śramaņa, Vol. 59, No. 2
April-June 2008
How appropriate is the proposition of
Neo-Digambara School?
An article entitled 'Neo-Digambara School', by Dr. Hampa Nagarajaiah has been published in the January 2006 issue of 'Jaina Journal'. Generally, we all are acquainted with the Digambara and Śvetāmbara sects of the Jainas. There is a less known sect named Yāpanīya on which some books and articles had already thrown a fresh light. Dr. A. N. Upadhye and Pt. Nathuram Premi had contributed some articles on this very topic. Books like - 'Yāpaniya Aura Unakā Sāhitya' by Dr. Kusum Patoria and Jaina Dharma Kā Yāpanīya Sampradāya' by the author itself have made the scholars and the elite sections of the Jains well acquainted with the origin and the development of Yāpanīya Sect. These works strongly advocated that most of the sacred works of the Digambara sect belong to Yāpánīya tradition. In reaction of this thesis a campaign seems to have started to prove these works belonging to Digambara tradition. Dr. Nagarajaiah's article under review is also a link in the same chain. In this article, Dr. Hampa Nagarajaiah has proposed an imaginary Neo-Digambara sect, and has tried to show that the works that are believed to be of the Yāpanīya tradition are actually of the Neo-Digambara sect. Here, I would like to discuss whether this deliberation of the learned author is just imaginary or based on any historical facts.
As far as the Svetāmbara, Digambara and Yāpanīya sects are concerned; there are ample literary and epigraphical proofs available from the Ancient and the middle Ages. Most of the literary and epigraphical evidences regarding Yāpanīya sect dates back to the 5th to the 14th century AD. My first question is, "Is there a single literary
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