This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Digambara Terapanth" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(March 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Digambara Terapanth is the reform sect ofDigambaraJainism that was founded in the 17th century. The older sect came to be termed as theBispanthi sect.^[1]It formed out of strong opposition to the religious domination ofbhattarakas, the traditional religious leaders of the establishments. They oppose the worship of various minor gods and goddesses. Some Terapanthi practices, like not using flowers in worship, gradually spread throughout most ofNorth Indian Jainism as well.

The Terapanthi movement was born out of theAdhyatma movement that arose in 1626 AD (V.S. 1683) inAgra. Its leading proponent wasBanarasidas of Agra.^[2] Adhyatma groups flourished during 1644-1726 in Agra, Lahore and Multan. The poet Dyanatrai was associated with the Adhyatma movement.KingJai Singh II (1688–1743) ofAmer kingdom built separate temples for the two sub-sects in his newly established capital ofJaipur.^[3]

The Bispanth-Terapanth division among the Digambaras emerged in the 17th century in the Jaipur region:Sanganer,Amer andJaipur itself.^[4]

Terapanth was formally founded by Amra Bhaunsa Godika and his son Jodhraj Godika, prominent citizens in Sanganer, during 1664-1667. They expressed opposition to Bhattaraka Narendrakirti of Amber. Authors such asDaulatram Kasliwal^[5] andPandit Todarmal^[6] were associated with the Terapanth movement.Pandit Todarmal's son, Gumaniram, formed a sub-sect namedGumanapantha in 1770s and named itshuddha terapantha amana (pureterapantha tradition) by making the rules stricter.^[3]

Bakhtaram in his "Mithyatva Khandan Natak" (1764) mentions^[7] that group that started it included 13 individuals who collectively built a new temple, thus giving it its nameTerapanth, which literally means "thirteen-panthan". Alternatively, according to "Kavitta Terapanth kau" by Chanda Kavi, the movement was named Terapanth because it founders disagreed with the Bhattaraka on thirteen points. A letter of 1692 from Terapanthis at Kama to those at Sanganer mentions 13 rituals practices they rejected.

The Terapanthis reject these practices:Mentioned in Buddhivilas (1770) of Bakhtaram:^[8]

• Authority of Bhattarakas
• Use of flowers, cooked food or lamps in worship.
• Abhisheka (panchamrita)
• consecration of images without supervision by the representatives of Bhattarakas.

The letter by Tera Panthis at Kama also mentions:^[9]

• Puja while seated
• Puja at night
• Using drums in the temple

Terapanth Khandan of Pandit Pannalal also mentions:^[10]

• Worship of minor gods like theguardians of the directions,śāsanadevis such asPadmavati, andKshetrapala.

• Jainism

• Wiley, Kristi L. (2009),The A to Z of Jainism, vol. 38, Scarecrow,ISBN 978-0-8108-6337-8

• Digambara sects
• 1626 establishments in India

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from March 2018
• All articles needing additional references
• Use dmy dates from January 2016
• Use Indian English from January 2016
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English