History of Canonical Literature of Jainas

SR No.: 006541
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hiralal R Kapadia, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 2010
Total Pages: 322
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Agam, Canon, & History
File Size: 17 MB

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THE CANONICAL LITERATURE OF THE JAINAS
As regards the title of the 15th lecture he has said as under on p. 329 by way of a foot-note:
"This lecture has been named from its opening words Jamaiyam, which also means, consisting of yamakas (compare Journal of the German Oriental Society, vol. xl, p. 101). For in this lecture each verse or line opens with a word repeated from the end of the preceding one. This artifice is technically called śrnkhalā-yamaka, or chain-yamaka, a term which seems to be contained in another name of our lecture, mentioned by the author of the Niryukti (verse 28), viz. adāniya-sankaliya. For sankaliyā is the Prakrit for śrókhalā (e. g. in our text, 1, 5, 2, 20), though Silanka here renders it wrongly sankalita; and adāniya by itself is used as a name of our lecture."
This 2nd Anga wherein we come across a number of similes: deals with the refutation of heretical doctrines. Its 1st two ajjhayanas explain the holy life and give us a graphic description of the difficulties a monk should surmount and especially the temptations he should face boldly. The 3rd ajjhayaņa vividly depicts the various works exacted from a male who has become a slave of his wife owing to his being unduly attached to her, and thereby furnishes us with materials throwing light on the Hindu Society of those days. Then we have an entire ajjhayana which treats of hells and the gruesome torments therein.2 This is followed by the praise of Lord Mahāvīra whom the author depicts as the standard of righteousness. Then we have later on the wellknown four heresies : ajñānavāda, vinayavāda, akriyavāda and kriyāvāda.3 In I, 9, 17 veha', a kind of gambling in noted. This finishes a rough survey of the 1st suyakkhandha. Turning to the 2nd we find that it has practically the same themes as the 1st ; for, it, too, deals with polemics which give us at least a glimpse of the various religious sects of the olden India.
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For example see I, 1, 2, 15 & 19; I, 2, 1, 15; 1, 3, 1, 2 and I, 14, 2. For additional illustrations the reader may refer to such verses as begin with ay. The number of these verses is, no doubt, enormous. In this connection, in A History of Indian Literature (vol. II, p. 440) it is said: "Like the authors of so many texts of the Purānas and Buddhist Suttas, a section of this Jaina Anga, too dwells with truly Sadistic complacency on the fantastic description of the hells..." For details see my introduction (pp. 53-62) to Tattvärtha (vol. II). For a discussion in German see F. O. Schrader's Über den stand der Indischen Philosophie zur Zeit Mahāvīras und Buddhas (Strassburg, 1902). See Schools and Sects in Jaina Literature by Mr. Ainulya Chandra Sen.
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