Saṁpradāya

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Saṃpradāya (Skt., from saṃ-pra da, ‘to give completely up’, ‘to hand down by tradition’). In Indian religions, any established doctrine and set of practices transmitted from one teacher to another. From this it has come to mean any sectarian religious teaching or a religious sect. In the Mahābhārata (Anuśāsanaparvan 141), the four (supposedly) original saṃpradāyas are listed more as styles of increasing asceticism through which tapas is generated. For Jains, see MULA SANGHA.

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Saṁpradāya

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