Dhammakahanuogo

SR No.: 001954
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kanhaiyalal Maharaj, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Agam Anuyog Prakashan
Total Pages: 810
Language: Prakrit
Classification: Book_Devnagari, Agam, Canon, Story, Literature, & agam_related_other_literature
File Size: 20 MB

Page 21

(Kummanāyam) goes to illustrate that monks and nuns most not yield to worldly temptations. In this way canonical and post-canonical literature is full of stories coloured with religious teaching.
The present work the Dhammakahāņuoga is divided into six Sections: (i) Narratives of the Excellent Men (Uttamapurisa-kahanagāni), (ii) of the Ascetics (Samanakahānagāni), (iii) of the Female Ascetics (Samani-kahanagāni), (iv) of the devotees of the ascetics (Samanovāsagakahānagāni), (v) of the Schisms (ninhava-kahānagāņi) and (vi) Miscellaneous Narratives (Painnaya-kahānagāņi). All these narratives have been collected from the Angas, the Upangas, the Chedasūtras and the Mülasütras.' The canonical literature of the Svetāmbaras consists of twelve Angas, twelve Upangas, ten Prakirnakas, Six Chedasūtras, four Mülasūtras and Nandi and Anuyoga. This literature is valuable since it consists of the teachings of Mahavira and his disciples. It has undergone various modifications as it has passed through different versions from time to time. The first exposition of the canonical literature was organised in Pataliputra (Patna) after about 160 years of Mahavira's death (about 367 B.C.), the second one in Mathura after about 827-840 years of Mahavira's death (about 300-313 A.D.) and the final one in Valabhi after about 980-993 years of Mahavira's death (453-466 A.D.). In the last meeting an attempt was made to reconcile the different readings of the two earlier meetings of the monks. However, as far as the antiquity of the canonical literature is concerned, each agama is to be determined by the nature of its contents. This literature is composed in Ardhamāgadhi, the dialect spoken in Magadha (modern Bihar).
The style of ancient canonical texts is simple and straight which is a distinctive feature of ancient literature. The author goes on narrating the topic in a natural unaffected style with abundant repetition of words, phrases and sentences. He tells his narrative slowly and leisurely so that the mind of the listener is not distracted and he gains confidence. In order to make his account serious the narrator adds set 'descriptions' in-between his narration. This style is also noticed in the Pali canon of the Buddhists. Commenting on the style of the Pali ancient texts, Winternitz has rightly observed that these continual repetitions served the double purpose impressing the instructions more deeply on the memory and of making them rhetorically more effective.?
Here we find that the narratives are presented in a steriotyped pattern with the same framework. In the narratives of the ten lay disciples of Mahavira, described in the Uväsagadasão, there is a homogeneity of description. A heavenly deity causes trouble to householder Kamadeva but he is not disturbed and remains steadfast in his vows. The same thing happens with other lay disciples. There is so much similarity in the framework of the description that only a catch-phrase is given by way of allusion to the earlier stories. Further, being questioned about the contents of the second part of the Nāyādhammakahāo, by his pupil Jambu, venerable Suhamma narrates the account of Kali and instructs him that the accounts of the remaining chapters of the remaining
1. They include (i) Ayāra, Suyagada, Thānā, Samavāya, Bhagavati. Nāyādhammakahão, Uvāsaga, Antagada, Anuttarovavaiya, and Vivagasaya--all Angas, (ii) Ovaiya, Rayapaseniya, Niryavaliyao, Pupphiao, and Vanhidasão --all Uparigas, (iii) Dasāsuyakkhandha (the eighth chapter of this text is known as Kalpasūtra)-the only Chedasūtra, (iv) Uttarajjhayana--the only Mülasutra. 2. History of Indian Literature, II, 68. Pointing out the efficacy of repetition, Axel Olric has said, "It is necessary not only to build tension, but to fill out the body of the narrative; Alan Dundes, The Story of Folk-lore, 1965, p. 131