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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INTRODUCING JAINISM
century."30 The texts redacted in the first Council of Elders in Pataliputra in 4th/3rd century B.C. did not get the recognition of the whole community:31 It was at that time that the division of the two sects --Svetambara and Digambara-came into existence. In the Classical Age the Second Council at Valabhi under the able guidance of Devardhigani Kşamāśramana was held in 454 A.D. or 467 A.D.32 This council was held at the time of King Dhruvasena I of the Maitraka dynasty of Valabhi. The Jaina tradition says that this King was extolled as a Jaina convert. But this tradition seems to be doubtful as numerous records of the Maitraka Kings of Valabhi make no mention of this fact. This tradition can only say that Valabhi was a famous centre of Jaina literary activity. The two famous Jaina scholars Puşpadanta and Bhūtabali belonging to the ninth century embodied the older works of Dharasena.33 It is in this Age that Jinabhadra-Kşamāśramani wrote his famous Viseşāvasyaka-bhāsya in 609 A.D. It was in this Second Council at Valabhi that the Jaina Agama texts took its present shape into 45 āgamas divided into anga, upānga, prakirņakas, chedasūtras, mūlasūtras and the two independent texts.34
Besides the redaction of the Āgama texts, vigorous literary activity went on among the Jain monks. As a result, we have a vast and rich literature of considerable merit. The later non-canonical literature, such as, the Nirjuktis and Bhāsyas, were greatly 'recast in this period by Samghadāsa, Jinadāsa and Siddhasena.35 The Cūrņis, Prakrit commentaries of the Agama texts in prose, were also composed in this period. It was in this age that we see “a general tendency among Jaina scholars to prefer Sanskrit more and more to Prakrit."36 The preference to Sanskrit was 30. K.M. Munshi's Foreword p. vii in Majumdar's History and
Culture of the Indian People, Vol-III (The Classical Age). 31. Majumdar, ibid., p. 415. 32. op.cit., p. 415. 33. Majumdar, ibid., p. 416. 34. op. cit., p. 416. 35. Majumdar, ibid., p. 417. 36. op. cit., p. 417.