Agam 15 Upang 04 Pragnapana Sutra Part 02

SR No.: 001064
Original Sutra Author: Shyamacharya
Author: Punyavijay, Dalsukh Malvania, Amrutlal Bhojak
Publisher: Mahavir Jain Vidyalay
Publication Year: 1971
Total Pages: 934
Language: Prakrit
Classification: Book_Devnagari, Agam, Canon, Metaphysics, & agam_pragyapana
File Size: 16 MB

Page 236

... [207]... Angas (Antagada Su. 9). In the days of Mahāvira the wives of Śrenika became Jaina nuns. About them we are informed in Antagada (Sū. 16) that they possessed the knowledge of eleven Angas.
Pūrvas being held very important scriptural texts it is no wonder if its knowledge were considered to be a kind of labdhi or rddhi (super-normal power). Āvaśyakaniryukti includes even the pūrvadharas (knowers of Purvas) in the list of labdhiharas (possessors of labdhis). This suggests that in the śruta 'Pūrva' literature had special and important place.18
Where there occurs a discussion either on agamavyavahāra or parokşavyavahāra the knowers of 14, 10 or 9 Pūrvas and also Gandhasti are found mentioned as aga mavyavahārī.19 Moreover, Ā. Jinabhadra referred to those who were of the opinion that Prayascitta became extinct as soon as knowers of fourteen Pūrvas left the mortal world.20 And he refuted this view.21 All this discussion would be meaningless if there existed, in the tradition, no Purva literature. So, we should maintain that at one time or another there existed the śruta known by the name of Purva'. There is no ground to regard it as fiction. The traditional view that Pūrvas are included in Drsțivada under the head of Pūrvagata' is not baseless.
It is natural to raise the question as to why Saiddhāntika (Doctrinal) and some Āgamic texts were based on the Pūrvas or Drstivāda only and not on the extant Angas. This can be answered as follows. If Angas themselves were believed to be based on Purvas and thus if the latter were considered to be definitely more important than the former then the authors of doctrinal and Agamic texts would naturally prefer Pūrvas to Angas to draw upon. Moreover, there is no reason to believe that what is nonexistent at present was also non-existent even at that time. It is so because it existed at one time and it became extinct only gradually. Again, the title Drstivāda itself suggests that the text bearing this title would have contained the expositions of the various philosophical views-the Jaina or non-Jaina or both. Hence, if the source of the philosophical or doctrinal discussions is sought in Drstivāda rather than in any Anga work, then the attempt should be regarded as proper. And the attempt has been made in this direction. Generally it is stated that all those Angabāhya works
18. Avaśyakaniryukti, gātha 69; Višeşā, gātha 776. 19. Jitakalpabhāşya, gathās 112, 113. 20. Ibid, gāthas 256-262 21. Ibid, gāthas 263 ff.