Cultural Study of Nisitha Curni

SR No.: 001743
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Madhu Sen
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar
Publication Year: 1975
Total Pages: 432
Language: English, Prakrit
Classification: Book_English, Agam, Canon, & Literature
File Size: 23 MB

Page 35

INTRODUCTORY
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similar to the language as found in the stories of Kālakācārya, Udayana, Domuhal etc., which has been termed as Jaina Mahārāsţsī.2 An influence of the regional dialect can also be seen from the text.
Besides, a great many gems of ancient myths and legends have been skilfully preserved in the NC. The history of the rulers of the Mauryan dynasty from Candragupta to Samprati is revealed by means of popular legends, while a number of stories relating to the life of Ajja Kālaga, Ajja Vairasāmī,6 Samitāyariya,« Ajja Khauça' etc. give a graphic description of the life and activities of various great Jaina monastic personages. The author is adept in telling the folk-tales-historical, semihistorical or sometimes purely imaginative, which reveal the general life of the people and thus prove to be an important source of cultural information. By citing the instances, illustrations and narratives of materialistic nature and giving their moral purport, the author of the NC. justifies the ancient truth that "strict a lherence to the rules is the key to success in material or spiritual field” and that “circumstances dictate the necessity to formulate, change or amend the ethical rules with a view to suit the requirement to achieve the ultimate aim in life, i. e. to be free from the bondage of the karmas and attain the final Liberation."
though composed in the later Middle-Indo-Aryan period (600-1000 A. D.), the language of the Nišitha Curri and.certain other Jaina works like Samaräiccakahā, Dharmasangrahani etc. is in conformity to
the early Middle-Indo-Aryan stage of language (600 B, C.-200 A. D.). 1. See-Jacobi, Selected Stories, No3. V and IX; also Woolner, op. cit.,
pp. 146-151. 2. Ibid. 3. NO. 2, pp. 361, 362; NC. 3, p. 424; NC. 4, pp. 10, 129. 4 NC. 3, pp. 58, 131. 5. NC 1, pp. 21, 163. 6. NC. 3, p. 425. 7. NC. 1, p. 22. 8. NC. 4, pp. 34-35.