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XIV : MAHĀPRATYĀKHYĀNA-PRAKĪRNAKA
mentioned in the Mülācāra anywhere. Hence, it is difficult to say as to in which category did the Mūlācāra put this Prakirnaka.
At present the Āgamas are categorised as the Arigasūtras, Upārga-sūtras, Mūla-sūtras, Cheda-sūtras and the Prakirnakas. We find the very first mention of this classification in the Vidhimārgaprapā. Generally, the term 'Prakīrnaka' means “a volume compiled on miscellaneous subjects'. According to Malayagiri, the commentator on the Nandīsūtra, the monks used to compose the Prakirnakas based on the preachings of the
Tīrtharikaras (the Prophets - Propounders of the faith). “Caurāsīin painnaga sahassāimi", in the Samavāyārgasūtra, points towards eighty-four thousand Prakīrnakas by the eightyfour thousand disciples of Lord Rsabhadeva. There were fourteen thousand monks in the order of Lord Mahāvīra and hence the number of Prakīrnakas composed by them ought to have been a like number. However, today the number of Prakirnakas is not definitely known and presently only ten Prakirnakas are recognized among the forty-five canonical texts. These ten Prakirnakas are as follows?:
1.
Catuhšarana,
Vidhimārgaprapā, p. 55.
Samavāyānga Sūtra, Ed. Muni Madhukara, Śrī Āgama Prakā śana Samiti, Beawar, I Ed., 1982, 84Th Samavāya, p. 143. (a) Prakrta Bhāśā Aur Sāhitya kā Ālocanātmaka Itihāsa, Ci. Nemicandra Šāstrī, p. 197. (b) Jain Agama Sāhitya Manana Aur Mimānsā, Devendra Muni Šāstrī, p. 388. (c) Agama Aur Tripitaka : Eka Anuśīlana, Muni Nagarāja, p. 486.
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