Treasury of Jain Tales

SR No.: 006762
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: V M Kulkarni
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre
Publication Year: 1994
Total Pages: 468
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

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the fully told story." This cūrni, as pointed out by Dr. Ghatage, 39 generally follows the lead of the niryukti, sometimes merely elaborates the details hinted at in the niryukti and at times makes real additions to the stories and occasionally supplies a few details to the statement of the niryukti. Regarding the parables in chapter seven the Cūrni calls them 'kappiyam udāharanam' (Kalpitamudāharanam) and vavahāriyaditthanta (vyavahāridrstānta) indicating thereby that they are no stories in the real sense of the word.
Vrttis :
In the 8th century (c.705-775 A.D.), Haribhadrasuri, the most distinguished and prolific Jain writer, wrote his commentaries to the canon in Sanskrit. Among his Vrttis, those on Avasyakasūtra and Dasavaikālika are available. While utilising the old Prakrit commentaries, he retained the kathānakas (stories, narratives) in their original Prakrit form. Muni Punyavijayaji observes: Haribhadrasuri "has composed vrttis (commentaries in Sanskrit) on the following sacred texts of the Jains, viz., Avasyaka, Nandi, Anuyogadvāra, Dasavaikālika, Prajñāpanā, Jivābhigama and Pindaniryukti, which are incomparable and original. 40" Silänkācārya (2nd half of the 9th century A.D.) wrote commentaries on the Acaranga and Sūtrakrtanga. Sāntisūri (11th century A.D.) wrote his exhaustive commentary on the Uttarādhyayana called Sisyahitā or Brhadyrtti. The illustrative stories of the commentary are "a verbal reproduction of the text of the Curni without any change, which śāntyācārya has simply copied; and the commentary adds nothing to our knowledge of the stories more than what is found in the Cūrni." 41 This commentary "possesses merits which lie outside the field of narratives associated with the
40- Jain Agamadhara aura Prakrit Vanmaya, pub. in Muni Sri -
Hajāri mala Smrtigrantha, p.723. 41- Kahanaya-Tigam., A Prakrit Reader, ed. by A.M. Ghatage, and
pub. by Bharat Book Stall, Kolhapur, 1950, Introduction, p.29