Jaina Ethics

SR No.: 001334
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Dayanand Bhargav
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 314
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Principle
File Size: 15 MB

Page 242

APPENDIX
ETHICAL LITERATURE OF THE JAINAS
The history of the Jaina literature begins from Mahāvīra. The tradition mentions that a bulky literature classified under fourteen heads, called Purvas, existed even before Mahavira,2 but unfortunately that literature became extinct as early as 182 B.C. according to Digambara tradition, and in 473 A.D. according to Svetämbara tradition.4
The post Mahavira literature can be classified under two heads (i) canonical literature; and (ii) non-canonical literature. The canonical literature can again be classified into two categories :
(i) Angapravista, which consists of the twelve Angas, the essence of which is claimed to have been imparted to his eleven principal disciples, known as ganadharas,5 by Lord Mahāvira
himself.
(ii) Angabahya, which includes the composition by later ācāryas also and consists of twelve Upangas, six Chedasūtras and four Mulas utras. The Digambaras disown the extant canonical literature, which, according to them, was gradually lost by 156 A.D. Besides the canonical literature, there is a vast non-canonical literature of both the sects of Jainism. The whole of the Jaina literature, is, again, classified under four anuyogas, based on the subject-matter with which
each one deals,8
1. Nandis ütra, Rajakota, 1958, p. 634.
Also Siddhāntasärādisaṁgraha, Bombay, Vik. Sam. 1979, Angaprajñapti,
2.1-117.
2. Jaina, H.L., Bharatiya samskṛti mem Jainadharma kā yogadāna, Bhopal, 1962, pp. 51-53.
3. Satkhanḍagama, Amaravati, 1939, Vol. I, prastāvanā, p. 26.
4. Bhagavatis utra, Ahmedabad. Vik. Sam., 1988, 20.8.9.
5. Nandicürni, Ratalam, 1928, p. 6.
6. Nandis ütra, pp. 524-547.
7. Kaşayaprabhṛta, Mathura, 1944, Vol. I, prastāvanā, p. 49. For canonical literature of the Digambaras, see further.
8. Bhadrabahu on Daśavaikālikas ātra, Ahmedabad, 1932, gāthās, 3-4,