Book Title: Studies in Buddhist and Jaina Monachism
Author(s): Nand Kishor Prasad
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur
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THE CUSTODIANS OF MONASTIC DISCIPLINE
201
The next important unit of the Jaina Priesthood was Kula. We have just seen that the Kulas, i. e., groups of monks having a common teacher formed the Gana. The implication of Kula as it is equated with And ayaa and also with Gaccha, a synonym of Gana, 4 is, like the Gana, somewhat vague and indistinct.
Next to Kula was Sambhoga. That it was a group of monks taking food together is apparent from the very title. Jacobi regards it as 'a group of monks begging alins in one district only'. According to another explanation, it was a group of monks having common sāmācārī? or rules o conduct peculiar to each group. Naturally, exchange of requisites, common study, mutual reverence and service etc. were permissible to monks belonging to the same Sambhoga only.8
It is normally believed that Sahäs or Sakhas were "the lines which branched off from each teacher”. The names given to various Sakhăs also show that the Sakhās, apart from the lines which cropped up from each teacher, were groups of monks belonging to a particular region or place, or were schismatic factions named after the place where they seceded from the Church.
The Gaccha even though later in origin is always equated with Gana 1! From this and is other explanations, it is clear that Gaccha, like Gana, was one of the largest units. Our statement is further corroborated by Dr. Deo's plea for the omission of the word from the Chedasūtras. 13
1. egāyariyassa santai-Comin. to Bhag., 382b). 2. Comm. to Uttar, p. 168b. 3. Comm to Thün, p. 51a 4. Ibid, pp 211b, 331h, 353a, 681a where the Gana is exp'ained as the
Gaccha. 5. Comm. tu Thān, P 139.; Comm. to Uttar, p. 333a. 6. Suyg (SBE. Vol. XLV), p 167, fo.!; Ular, 29.33; Vis, 5.63; Vav, 6.19f;
7 2-5; etc.; Schubring, Doctrines of the Jainas, pp. 251-52. 7. Pāiasāddamnhannavo, p. 1062. 8. Samu, 12, p. 21b, 9. Kapp (SBE, Vol. XXII), p. 288, fn. 2. 10. Cf. list of Gaņas and Sakhas in the Kapp (SBE. Vol. XXII), pp. 288-294. 11. Comm. to Than, pp. 2415, 331b, 353b, 381b. 12. ekācaryaparivāraḥ, Aup, p. 86; sabālavddhakulam gaccham-Gacchācāra, 22. 13. “The Chedasūtras like Vyavahāra, Niśitha and Bịhatkalpa seldom speak of a
Gaccha, and it may be, that with the spread of Jainism, emaller groups than the Gana were found to be more convenient both for Church administration and for the purpose of touring life.” HJM, p. 232.
