Some Aspects of Jaina Narrative Literature (2/4)

Some Aspects of Jaina Narrative Literature

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3.0 Digambara’s Canonical Literature

Today a series of works, which are, regarded as authoritative accounts of the doctrine take among Digambaras the position of the lost old canon. These works are distinguished in four groups depending upon the subjects like history, cosmography, philosophy and ethics they deal with. They are as follows:

3.1 Four Anuyogas:

a. Prathamānuyoga, (world history)
b. Caraņānuyoga, (ethics and rituals)
c. Karaņānuyoga (cosmography)
d. Dravyānuyoga. (philosophy)

3.2. The Dŗştivāda (the 12th anga)

This Text consists of parikarma, sūtra, pūrvagata, anuyoga and culikā. Ācāryas Puşpadanta and Bhūtabali (1st or 2nd century AD) composed the Şaţakhandāgama Text on the basis of few Purvas contained in the Dŗştivāda.

The Kaşāyapāhuda is another old Text which is based on the 5th Pūrva of the Dŗştivāda composed by Ācārya Guņadhara (2nd or 3rd century AD). The Dŗştivāda been called an excellent sacred text. According to Śvetāmbara Jainas this anga is completely lost.

Ācārya Dharasena (between 86-156 AD) practicing penance at Girnar imparted them the knowledge of the Pūrvas to Ācāryas Puşpadanta and Bhutabali. They composed the in Śauraseni Prākrta.

From the 2nd to the 6th century AD a number of important commentaries were written on Chakkhandāgama the Şaţkhandāgama, which unfortunately are not available. The most important available commentary is the Dhavala (completed in 816 AD) by Ācārya Vīrasena.

Ācārya Guņadhara, a contemporary of Dharasena (between 86-156 AD), was author of this Text. Yativŗşabha (before 5th century AD) composed Cūrņi on this text. Ācārya Vīrasena started writing the commentary called Jayadhavala on this text but died and his renowned pupil Jinasena completed this commentary in 837 AD.

4.1 Prominent Digambara Ācāryas and their works.

4.2 Prominent Śvetāmbara Ācāryas and their works

The canon is extremely rich in stories and legends of various types. The reports on the prophets, apostles and saints it contains offer a rich material to the later generations for their literary creations. These legends possesses the unique power of interpreting like for us of consoling us and sustaining us. These legends in chaste, lucid and simple languages cooperate with the benign tendencies in human nature and society and well in their efficacious in making man wiser better and happier. They are again and again treated in countless works in poetic beauty. There are numerous biographies of Ŗşabha, Śāntinātha, Arişţanemi, Pārśva, Mahāvīra and other Tirthańkaras which mostly deal with popular theme in the usual schematic way; and they strive to get for the theme new angles only by additions of new episodes, of stories from the earlier births of the hero and his followers.

But the hagiography of Jainas did not restrict itself from the olden times to describing the life and work of the in founders of religion and those persons who were connected with them, either as devotees or as adversaries, but it included a great number of other legendary personalities in the sphere of their observations. 12 world-rulers and 27 heroes are the main personalities of the traditional world- history besides 24 Tirthańkaras. Along with these who appear to be particularly special for Jainas, they also consider heroes known to Hindus, like Bharata, Sagara, Rāma, Lakşmaņa, Rāvaņa, as also Balarāma, Kŗşņa and Jarāsandha.

Jainas have more or less strongly changed the stories of these men and other persons from the epics Rāmāyaņa and Mahābhārata for their purpose; the heroes in these are obviously all pious Jainas and think and act as such. The great number they have come down to us speaks for the strong persons for Jaina reworking and, as we must often say, for distortion of the Brāhmaņic legends.