Jaina Philosophy of Language

SR No.: 001601
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith
Publication Year: 2006
Total Pages: 168
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Language
File Size: 10 MB

Page 55

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Language and Script ta tha da dha ņ ta tha da dha na pa pha ba bha ma ya ra la va
= 4 Śa șa ha
Semi-vowels Sibilants
=
4
To complete the number. 46, the commentator has added kșa *? but kșa is compound letter. Thus, if we take kșa, we would have to add tra & jña. To my mind, we should include ! instead of kşa because the farmer is an independent letter from the pronunciation point of view in the Prākrta-Pāli languages. It is also a recognised letter in Marathi, Gujarati etc. even today.
As we have already seen that in the Jaina tradition letters are classified in three classes
1. Samjñā-aksara (letters suggesting shapes and form of the script), Vyañjana-aksara (letters suggesting certain meaning), and 3. Labdhyākṣara (letters suggesting meanings denoting capacity). Out of these, the first is related with script.
According to the Jaina tradition the development of script is regarded to have begun from Tīrthankara Lord Rşabhadeva. It is believed that Lord Rşabhadeva taught a script to his daughter Brāhmi for the first time, and therefore, that script is known by her name i.e. Brāhmi script. In the Jaina literature we find a mention of 18 scripts :
S. No. Samavāyānga
Prajñāpana
Višeşāvaśyaka-bhāsya
(18th Samaväya)
(Jiva Prajñāpanā-71)
(Hemacandra's coment. 464)
Bambhi (Brāhmi)
Bambhi (Brāhmi)
Javani (Yavani)
Javanāliya (yāvani)
Javaņāṇīya (yavanāni)
Hamsa (Hamsa)
Dosa Oriā (dosa uparika)
Dosāpuria
Bhūya (Bhūta) Jakhi (yoksa)
Kharotthià (kharoştrīkā)
Kharotthi (kharoştri)
Bhogavaiya (Bhogavatikā)
Bhogavaia (Bhogavati)
Rakhasi (räksasi)
Paharājā (Prahărātikā)
Paharājā
Uddi (Udiā)
Kharasāviā (Kharaśrāvika)
Antakkhariä
Turukki (Turki)
8.
Ucaataria (Uccatarikā)
Pukharasana
Kiri (krita)