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Mahāvira Era
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such-schisms of the four main sects extant at the time. Mr. A. C. Sen has detailed these sectarian differences in monastic life of the period (Schools and Sects in Jaina Literature, Calcutta, 1932).
There were a few followers of Mahāvira who received initiation from him and they too became self-centred and established new sects. Avasyaka-Niryukti, Aupapātika and Commentaries on Uttarādhyayana reveal seven divisions, two of them led by Jamāli and Tishyagutta, parted during the life-time of Mahāvīra himself and and five others within a lapse of 584 years since the death of Mahāvira. • The famous Barli-inseription refers to Goștha māhila, who believed that the Karman simply touched the soul but did not bind it (Avasyakabhâsya yritti, Vs 141-144). We read and decipher the Barli. inscription us under:
at Hoa (a) 400+70 Tipta a (a)कायेसालि माहिले-- () faszt #fufHati
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That Goşthamāhila was present in Madhyamikā 584 years after Bhagawan Malāvira,
