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The Followers of the Ever Growing One
Jinabhadra Sūri belonged to the Kharataragaccha, which came into being at the beginning of the XIth century at the time of the reformer Jinesvara Sūri.115 Later, at the beginning of the XIIIth century, in Rajasthāna, Jagatcandra Sūri founded another gaccha, the Tapagaccha. 116 Before going through the references to certain sadhvis that are found in the manuscripts of Jesalamera, between the XIIth and XIIIth centuries, special mention should be made of Jinadatta Sūri, a very fervent muni of the end of the XIIth and beginning of the XIIIth centuries who, so they say, gave dikṣā to seven hundred sädhvis!117
118
In the collection of manuscripts one notes the names of fifteen sādhvis, among whom two are the authors of texts. These names appear in certain texts, often very short ones, which for the most part form the conclusion of a work. A brief analysis of these references reveal that:
177
They appear in certain transcribed manuscripts. The date of the transcription is not always given and still more rarely that of the
115 Sūri: a title commonly bestowed on a learned muni. Often a Sūri was also an Acarya. The caityavasis or less strict munis, had abandoned the itinerant life and the hardships of asceticism and had installed themselves in the subsidiary buildings of the caityas (temples), where they led a sedentary life similar in certain respects to that of the Bhaṭṭārakas. Starting from Gujarata, the Kharataragaccha established itself firmly in Rajasthāna, Madhya Pradeśa, Sindha and round about Dilli. Cf. Guérinot, 1908, p.244, inscr. 684 for a paṭṭāvali (paṭṭa: seat, seat of honour of the Acarya; avali: line, rank; we must understand here: pattadhara: he who occupies the seat), a list of the line of Acaryas of the Kharataragaccha from its foundation until 1594-95 at Pāṭaņa (Gujarāta); cf. also K.C. Jain, 1963, pp. 58; 204; Nähaṭā, 1971, pp. 1-4. The original name of this gaccha was: vidhimärga, though later on it was called Kharataragaccha from kharatara: extremely hard, sharp, penetrating - characteristics shown by Jineśvara Sūri in a famous speech in the court of King Durlabharāja at Pățaṇa, where in 1017 he won the day over the caityavāsis.
116 Tapä, on account of this muni's austerity; cf. K.C. Jain, 1963, pp. 58-59.
117 Ibid., pp.
205-206.
118 They are introduced in the following sub-section along with other sädhvi
authors.
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