Some Jaina Canonical Sutras

SR No.: 011033
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Bimla Charn Law
Publisher: Royal Asiatic Society
Publication Year: 1949
Total Pages: 229
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Agam, & Canon
File Size: 24 MB

Page 16

CHAPTER I
JAINA CANON
The Jain literary records developed through centuries and by stages. It is difficult to say that the Jain canon belongs to one particular period as the works belonging to it are of different ages and origins. The sacred books of the Jains underwent considerable changes with the result that some works or portions of works were added to the canon from time to time. The words of Mahāvīra, the celebrated founder of Jainism, were handed down by an oral tradition which took it complete literary form through ten centuries from his demise. Up to a certain clate this tradition was known in the form of the fourteen pūrvas, which themselves presuppose the existence of an earlier ten that had embodied the religious tradition of Pārýva and formed a common basis of the Jaina and Ajivika (anon. That the pūrvas were gradually lost may be accounted for by the rise of the sacred books of the Jain canon--the siddhantu or ūguur by way of compilation from time to time. The process of compilatioli passed through several stages when it was stopped on account of the preparation of a final redaction of the canon at the council of Valabhi under the presidency of Arya Devarudhigani in 454 or 467 A.D.
The occasional references to the texts representing the various divisions of the said (anon seem to suggest a stratification of the angus, upangas and the rest and a chronology of their gradual development.
There was a stage when the twelve angas were known and acknowledged as the only authoritative Jain Sacred books. According to the tradition of the Jain Church the twelfth anga. called the Drstivāda 2 has been lost. But even the loss of this anga may be accounted for by the compilation of other books on its basis. Pra
oks on its basis. Practically speaking nothing has been lost. The Sūtrakrtūrga (II, 1.27) expressly refers to the twelve angas as forming the canon of the Jainas, 'which has been taught, produced, and declared by the Śrumuinas, Nirgranthas, namely the Acārānga (all down to) the DỊstivāda'.
1 Jaina Sūtras, SBE, Pt. I, Intro., p. xxxvii.
* This text deals chiefly with the dristis or ditthis which are nothing but the philosophical viows of the Jainas and other schools us the title suggests.