Introducing Jainism

SR No.: 006956
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publication Year: 2002
Total Pages: 90
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

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18
INTRODUCING JAINISM
husband from the Jaina monks and then converts the whole town to Buddhism. In the Lankāvatāra-sūtra, Aristanemi, among others, is mentioned.
iii) Jain Literature : Svetāmbara and Digambara
In the age of Imperial Unity, the codification of Mahāvira's sayings started.25 After the death of Mahāvīra (527 B.C.), in the fourth-third centuries B.C. after a severe famine lasting for twelve years at the time of Chandragupta of the Maurya empire, the Jains were divided into two broad sects ! Svetāmbara and Digambara. So their canonical literatures (Āgamas), though originally based on the sermons.of Mahāvīra, are also different. Mahāvira was not the composer of these texts, but these were compiled by his disciples, Indrabhūti Gautama, who, in turn preached to his disciple the ganadhara Sudharmā who again related these texts to his disciple Jambūsvāmi. It is believed by both the sects that originally the Jaina sacred texts were preserved in the 14 pūrvas and 12 Angas including the Dşstivāda. The knowledge of the 14 pūrvas continued only down to Sthūlabhadra, the 8th patriarch after Mahāvira, the next 7 patriarchs down to Vajra knew only ten pūrvas, and after that time the remaining pūrvas were gradually lost, until the time when canon was written down in books in 454 A.D. on the lapse of 980 years after the Nirvana of Mahāvira. All the pūrvas and the 12th Anga Dșstivādawere lost. What remains is the 11 Angas and these 11 Angas are the oldest part of their Siddhānta. The Svetāmbaras accept these 11 Angas which consist of 45 texts divided into 11 Angas (different from the previous ones), 12 upangas, 10 painnas, 6 chedasūtras, 1 Nandi, 1 Anuyogadvāra, and 4 mūlasūtras. The Digambaras do not accept these Āgama texts at all. On the contrary, they have their own Agama texts comprising almost 45 books under the name of Şațkhaņdāgama, Kasāyapāhuda, Mahābandha, and so on, and they claim that the lost Dşstivāda has been restored and preserved by them in their canonical literature. These books have been published since 1938. In a nutshell, I will say that all these books are complementary and supplementary to each other
25. Winternitz, ibid., pp. 431-445.