Sthanakavasi Jain Tradition
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Sthanakavasilain Tradition Sthanakavasi JainTradition Lonkagaccha(founded c. 1504);the Nagauri Lonkagaccha s (c. 1528);the Gujarati LonkagacchaMota Paks (Varsinha The origins of the Sthanakavasi(lit. hall-dweller) Svetam- 122, Paks,or KesavPaks) (c. 1555);and the Gujarati Lonkagac- bara Jain tradition can be traced to the Gujarati Jain re- former Lonka Sah,Lunka or Lumpaka (c. 1415-1489),who chaNana Paks(Kumvar Paks)(c. 1555). protested against the laxity of the contemporary Tapagac- In protestagainst the renaissanceof image-worshipand (lay) cha Murtipujak Svetambarafain mendicants,because their the renewed laxity of conduct of most Lonkagaccha conduct did not match the prescriptions of the oldest ascetics,five reformers-the so-calledpanca muni-split canonical texts. Lonka was the first layman who started a off from the KesavPaks. the Kumvar Paks.and the Ekal Pa- (a new religiousmovement within the ]ain tradition. Because triya Panth lay movement of unknown origin) in the he copied manuscriptsfor lain monks, he had unique ac- early sixteenth century and founded the principal cessto the fain scripturesand noticed that the oldest Sve- Sthanakavasimendicant traditions, which still exist today. tambara scripturesdo not mention the practiceof merit- The five traditions sharethree doctrinal characteristics:(1) making by giving money as religious gifts (dana) for the rejectionof image-worship,(2) strict asceticconduct in ac- construction of temples,nor the performance of image- cordancewith the prescriptionsin the thirty-two accepted worship (murti-puja) or similar ostentatiousrituals involv- fain scriptures,and (3) compulsoryuse of a mouthmask to ing the breaking of flowers and other actsof violence.On preventthe swallowingof living beingssuch as insectsand the contrary, the scripturesprescribed possessionlessness dust.The squarewhite mouthmaskis now the principal ex- and strict asceticism: nonviolence, self-restraint, and ternal feature of all Sthanakavasimendicants (the Tera- penance.Lonka, therefore, rejected both image-worship panth Svetambaramendicants use a rectangular blue and the authority of fourteen (or fifteen) of the forty-five mask).Sthanakavasi laity generallyreject material forms of canonical texts that contain referencesto it. He also de- worship (dravya) and practice only asceticism (tapas) and nounced the legitimacyof the existingimage-worshipping inner forms of worship (bhava), such as meditation monasticorders and startedto live asan uninitiated ascetic, (dhyana) and study (svadhyaya).Instead of images, they following the oldesttextual prescriptions himself. veneratethe mendicantsas living symbolsof the Jainideals. The surviving original sourcesfor Lonka'sbiography and They also practice daya dharma, the religious work of doctrine are not entirely reliable.But most textsagree that, compassionatehelp (dana) for animalsand human beings, in contrastto common practice,Lonka acceptedalms from in order to accumulate merit (punya) and thus to advance all castesbut no money, that he did not possessa mouth- on the path of salvation.These three typical forms of ritual mask (mukhavastrika),a stick (danda), or a broom (rajoha- practice are known under the titles guna puja, deva guru, rana), and that he practicedneither image-worshipnor the and dana-daya.In 1760,Muni Bhikhan,the founder of the fain rites of purification (pratikramana and posadha), TERAeANTHSvETAMBARA JAIN TRADITIoN, severedhim- which also involved elements of image-worship.Lonka self from the DharmadasaSthanakavasi tradition because quickly gaineda largefollowing among the ]ainsin Gujarat. he rejectedmerit-making as such,in favor of a purely sal- Although he did not createa monastic order himself, he vation-orientedascetic style of life. laid down instructions for his followers.The original texts The SthanakavasiJain tradition is presentlydivided into were thought to be lost until 1964,when D. D. Malvaniya twenty-sixmendicant orders whose origins canbe tracedto claimedto haverediscovered them in the L. D. Institute li- one or more of the five principal reformers(kriya uddhara) brary in Ahmedabadin the form of two anonymouslywrit- of the aniconic lain tradition, although the available ten manuscripts:Lunka Na SaddahiyaAne Karya Atthavan sourcesare inconsistent: ( I ) Jivarajahas been made respon- Bolno and Lunka Na Hundi. sible for all crucial innovations of the Sthanakavasitradi- The Lonkagacchamendicant tradition was formed by tion, though some sourcesgive priority to Lava. He lived Lonka'sfirst disciple,Bhana, who apparentlyinitiated him- sometimebetween 1524 and 1641 (probably having been self and forty-five followersof Lonka'sdoctrine sometime born in Surat)and separatedhimself from the Kumvar Paks betweenl47l and 1476by acceptingthe five greatvows of in 1551,1609, or 1629.Apparently it was he who selected the Jainascetics (mahavrata).In the first decadesof the six- the thirty-two Svetambarascriptures that are now accepted teenth century the Lonkagacchasplit into severalmore or by all Sthanakavasis(possibly by adding the Vyavaharasutra lessorganized regional or revisionistLonkagaccha groups, or the Avasyakasutraor both to Lonka'slist, but there is no most of which comprisedlay-ascetics, or yatis,who did not compellingevidence), and who introducedthe mouthmask accept all of the live great vows or reverted to image- (muhapaxi), the rajoharan,and other paraphernaliaused worship.In the mid-sixteenthcentury, the Lonka tradition by present-daySthanakavasi mendicants. (2) Dharmasimha was split into more than thirteen independentbranches, (1599-1671) severedhimself from the Kumvar Paks in which further divided into separatesubgroups. Until the 1628, 1635, or 1644 in Dariyapuri in Ahmedabad and demiseof the Lonkagacchyatis in the nineteenthand twen- founded the Ath Koti (eight class) tradition. He was a tieth centuries,only four branchessurvived: the Lahauri scholarand wrote vernacularcommentaries (tabbo) on the Sthanakavasi f ain Tradition s Prakrit Jain scriptures.He introduced a specialpratikra- groupsof the Dharmadasatradition: the faymalgaccha(fay- a222 mana rite for his lay followers and taught that there is no mal, 1708-1796;Rajasthan, 1748 or 1783);the Ratnavams accidentaldeath, because the lifespanof a living beingis de- (Ratnacandra,Rajasthan, 1796); the DharmadasaSampra- termined by its own karma. (3) Lava or Lavji Rsi (c. daya (Umesmuni, late twentieth century); and Upadhyay 1609-1659),the founder of the Dhundhiya (seeker)tradi- Amarmuni (1901-1992), the inspirational force behind the tion, alsoknown under the name Rsi Sampraday,was born modern Virayatan order, which was founded by SadhviCan- in Surat and split from the Kesav Paks in 1637, 1648, danain Ragriha,1974. 1653-i655, or 1657. ( ) The founder of the Baistola None of the Gujarati groupsjoined the Sramanasangha, (twenty-two schools)tradition, Dharmadasa(1645-1703) which is essentiallya Hindi-speakingorder. With the excep- from Ahmedabad,was originally a member of the Ekal Pa- tion of the Khambhat Sampradaya(Lava, Ahmedabad, triya Panth, but under the influence of Lava and Dhar- 1648) and the three Ath Koti traditions-the Dariyapuri masimha fbunded his own tradition in 1660through self- Ath Koti Sampradaya(Dharmasimha, Ahmedabad, 1628); initiation. (5) Hara, the ancestor of the Sadhumargi the Kacch Ath Koti Mota Paks (Krsna, originally Dhar- tradition (a branch of the extinct Kota Sampradaya),sepa- madasaSarnpraday, Kacch l7l5-1782); and the KacchAth rated himself from the Kumvar Paksin L668or 1728. Koti Nana Paks(fasraj, Kacch, 1786)-the majority of the The name sthanaka-vasl(hall-dwellers), though in evi- independent Sthanakavasitraditions in Gujarat descend dencein a text written in 1630,was not regularlyused as a from Mulacandra (1651-1725), one of Dharmadasa's common designationfor all five traditions until the unifica- twenty-two leading monks. Mulacandra'smain disciples tion movement of the early twentieth century.Doctrinally, formed separatelocal groupsafter a disputeat a mendicant only Dharmasimha'sAth Koti tradition in Gujarat dift'ers assemblyin 1788in Limbdi. Not all of the emerging Gu- significantly from the other four schools,which disagree jarati Dharmadasatraditions survived,and some of them only on minor points of philosophy and ritual. The split further into subgroupslabeled great(mota) and small Sthanakavasitraditions as a whole nowadays are divided (nana).The sevenprincipal orders of today are all named along regional lines between the Gujarati and the non- after the placeof origin that is alsotheir main seat:l.imbdi Gujarati (North Indian) traditions.The non-Gujaratitradi- Cha Koti Mota Paks(founded by Ajramar, Limbdi, 1788); tions are further subdividedinto those who foined the re- Limbdi Cha Koti Nana Paks(Hemcand and Gopal,Limbdi, formist and centrallyorganized Sramanasangha, which was 1859); Gondal Mota Paks (Dungarsi, Gondal, 1788); founded in 1952in Sadariin Rajasthanin a merely partially Gondal Sanghani(Ganga Svami, Gondal, 1794); Barvada successfulattempt to unite all Sthanakavasigroups, and (Mota Kahan,Barvada, 1788); Botad (Jasa, Botad, c. 1850); those who remained outside or left the Sramanasangha. and Sayala(Naga, Sayla, 1772-1812). They arenot led by an Both the Sramanasanghaand the independent traditions electedadministrator cum teacher(acarya), like the inde- include mendicant orders that derive from four of the five pendenttraditions outside Gujarat,but by the male ascetic main Sthanakavasitraditions (the exception is the Ath Koti with the highestmonastic