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Schisms in the Jain Samgha
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are converted into the Christian era they will be 357 B. C. and 372 B. C. respectively. It is a point of general agreement among historians that Chandra Gupta's accession took place in and around 321 B. C. This date does not tally with the traditional calculations of the Jains. The possibility of miscalculation on the part of the Jains can not be ruled out. Since the reign of Chandra Gupta ended in 297-298 B. C. and the contemporaniety of Chandra Gupta and Bhadrabahu is attested by the Jain sources, it may be safely assumed that in the beginning of the third century B. C., Sthūlabhadra took the charge of the leadership of the Jain samgha. Thus, there is a strong possibility that the schism occurred in the first half of the third century B. C.
This conjecture gets support from an account of the Jain texts. It is said that Sthulabhadra convened a council at Pataliputra during the period of famine when Bhadrabahu had gone to south India with a section of monks and he did not invite Bhadrabahu to attend this council. It is quite strange that Bhadrabahu who was the only person well-versed in all the angas and purvas was not invited and in his absence, the form of canonical literature was fixed in this council. Does this not bespeak of some sort of dissension in the Jain Order?
It appears that after the amalgamation of the orders of Pārsva and Mahāvīra the discipline of nudity got loosened. The Sthavirakalpa became more popular among monks. However, more orthodox among them continued adhering to the jina kalpa. So long as the number of monks was small, there was no difficulty in maintaining the jina kalpu. We know that the monks depend on society for their subsistence. With the increase of number of monks the magnitude of their dependence on society might have increased. As such, movement of monks in big number in nude form for begging purposes might have caused a sense of shyness and hesitation. They will have been prompted to put on clothes without incurring any sacrilege particularly when sthavira kalpa was there. After
