Chaupannamahapurischariyam

SR No.: 001442
Original Sutra Author: Shilankacharya
Author: Amrutlal Bhojak, Dalsukh Malvania, Vasudev S Agarwal
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 2006
Total Pages: 464
Language: Prakrit, English, Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari, Literature, & Story
File Size: 14 MB

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SC AS A SOURCE FOR THE STUDY OF THE UH
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Harivarnsapurāna goes together with the Svetămbara-versions (HTT, DUtt, SVh, Satrumjayamahatmya), although in more than one case SC departs from the Svetambara-tradition and follows one (or several) of the Digambara-versions (Guņabhadra, Puşpadanta, Jinasena). But we are no-where forced to conclude that Silanka has adopted a feature which was invented by the Digambaras and did not belong to the common heritage of both sects. A good example is the story of the destruction of Dväravati. SC follows in part the Digambara-tradition and not HTr and Dutt; but the common version of SC and of the Digambaras recurs in the Daśavaikālika-Cůrņi and -Tikā, and it is therefore evident that this version already formed part of the earlier Svetāmbara-tradition (p. 88)."
10. Comparison of the "sub-versions" (7): HTY/SC and the Avasyaka-tradition. A considerable portion of the UH is contained in the Av.-tradition (Āvasyaka-Niryukti, -Cūrņi, -Tikā), and this version is almost identical with HTI. The full story is of course only told in JCū and HT. The Mülabhãşyaverses inserted in the Niryukti give a highly condensed account, and the Niryukti proper presents as a rule little more than an enumeration of the captions of the stories for the Mülabhāsya-verses refer to E. Lcumann in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft XLVI p. 586 ). Stories which are not incorporated in the " Mahavira-biography" (in the wider sense, see below ), whether they belong to the UH or not, are generally not mentioned in the Niryukti. They are merely narrated by JCū and HTI in order to explain and to demonstrate scholastic notions contained in the Niryukti.
JCu and HTI contain first of all. what may be called a Mahāvira-biography in the wider sense, starting with Mahavira's previous existence as a grāmacintaka and ending with his attainment of the kevalajñāna (including some events which follow immediately upon the enlightenment). This biography includes besides the other previous existences the life-story of the first Vasudeva Triprstha, who is an earlier incarnation of Mahavira's soul. In addition to that it comprises the Rşabha-Bharata-carita (including Rşabha's previous existences and the history of the kulakaras ). Obviously it was thought desirable to inould these two most important pieces of Jain mythology into one. They were bound together by the person of Marici who figured in the proper Mahavira-biography as a previous existence of Mahavira and in the Rşabha-Bharata-biography as a relative of Rşabha and Bharata. This nucleus of the UI was bound together by reincarnation and relationship, but not by systematic coordination as the later fully developed system. Apart from this Mahăvira-biography in the wider sense (henceforth simply called "Mahāvira-biography"), which is based on a continuous account, however abbreviated, of the Niryukti, and apart from tales not connected with the UH, JCù and HTI contain miscellaneous stories connected with various mahāpuruşas etc.: an almost complete Subhūmna-biography, many stories from the Parisista parvan (see H. Jacobi, Parisista parvan, Calcutta' 1932, pp. VIII-X), and finally various Krsna-legends and Mabävira-legends (HTr VIII 10 and X). According to a rough estimate, the Mahavira-biography comprises rather more than one third of the narrative portions of JCū and ratber less than one fourth of the narrative portions of HTI.
(1) Comparison of JCü and HTI. As far as the Mahavira-biography is concerned, we find in HȚI hardly any material not contained in JCů, whereas more than one half of the contents of JCa (mostly the typical "elements which are connected with the various types of mahāpuruşas, not with an individual) are missing or merely outlined. The prolix descriptions found at some places in the Curņi are altogether absent in the Tikā. The text of JCū and HTI being largely identical, we meet only rarely with differences in the contents (see below). Outside the Mahavira-biography most of the stories have the same length in both versions. 2. Malayagiri's Vịtti and the Avaśyakakathă do not seem to depart anywhere from these three texts. The Avasyakakatha
is written in Sanskrit ślokas, and the portions of this work which are quoted in the Abhidhāna Rajendra Kosa show that it is very closely related to the Avaśyaka-tradition.