Sthaviravali Charitra or Parisista Parva

SR No.: 010713
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hermann Jacobi
Publisher: Asiatic Society
Publication Year: 1932
Total Pages: 467
Language: Sanskrit, Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari
File Size: 12 MB

Page 6

PARISISTAPARVAN.
of the Legendary Literature of the Svetāmbaras He had already contributed the account of the sources of the Sthayırā. valīcarta in the Preface of the first edition, and has kindly revised and augmented his contributions for the second edition. I avail myself of this opportunity to give expression to my sincere gratitude for his untiring assistance
Before entering on the detailed analysis of the Sthavırā. valicarta, I premise a brief survey of the literary works on which it is based
Religious teachers were wont to enliven their sermons, and to illustrate their doctrines, by apologues and legends When reduced to writing such tales gave rise to what may be called the Kathānaka-Literature, part of which formed the stories of the patriarchs and other famous persons, believed to have contributed to the development of the church after Mahāvīra's Nirvāda These stories are scarcely ever alluded to in the Sūtra itself, but frequently in the Niryuktı belonging to it There are ten Sūtras to which Bhadrabāhu, a late namesake of the sixth patriarch, has written Niryuktis, ie, systematical expositions of the subject of the Sūtra to which they belong The Niryuktis frequently mention the stories in question, but as a rule offer but a mere summary or a few details of them, while the teacher 23 supposed to be well acquainted with them A more detailed account of the stories 26 contained in the Prakrit commentaries on the Sūtras and Niryuktis, called Cūrnis, and a still further developed account of the same in the Tikās which explain the Niryuktis and freely make use of the text of the Cūrnis Hemacandra has laid under contribution chiefly Haribhadra's Tīkā on the Avas. yaka Sūtra, and, in a less degree, that on the Dasayaikālıka Sūtra by the same author Somewhat different is the literary aspect in the Niśitha-, Kalpa-, Vyavahāra-, and VišegāvaśyakaSūtras To these Sūtras also belong Cūrnis, which, however, are very voluminous works, written in găthās, and shorter Bhásyas by individual authors Leaving the last named works out of account, it can be said that there are practically four