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________________ JAINISMI IN NORTH INDIA the canon itself, and Oghanjjutti is said to have been taken from some of the Puruas.? According to Dr Charpentier, old as the Niryuklis are they certainly do not represent the very first sct of Jaina commentatorial Literature They are not the oldest but the oldest existing set of commentaries on the canonical scriptures of the Jainas This is because " the Naryukta is in its main parts only a sort of index, a collection of versus memoriales meant to give an abbreviation of an extensive commentary, where all these tales and legends were really told at length". The oldest commentator seems to be Bhadrabahu, who, as seen before, died one hundred and scventy years after the Nirvana of Vardhamana He is said to have composed ten Narynktus on different works belonging to the canon-viz. the Acaranga, the Sitakrtanga, the Suryaprajnapati, the Dasasrutaskandha, Kalpa and Vyavahar a, the Avasyaka, the Dasavarkalika, the Uttaradhyayana and the Rshubhashita, According to Banarsi Das Jain, Bhadrabahu's Niryukti on the Avasyaka is the earliest authority on the purvabhavas-e former births of Rsbabha. This is because "the Angas do not make any special mention of the Purvabhavas of the Tirthankaras, though they contain numerous references to the past and future lives of several of Mahavira's contemporaries" 4 What makes all these commentaries so precious is the circumstance that they have preserved for us, on the one hand, very many old historic or quasi-historic traditions, and on the other, a vast amount of material for popular narrations. Like the Buddhist monks the Jaina monks also have at all times preferred to animate their sermons by narrating stories and legends of saints with a view to gaining and preserving as many followers as possible, by taking advantage of the Indian lust of hearing religious stories. Thus" there gradually accumulated a considerable stock of legends and tales, partly borrowed from collections among the people since time immemorial, partly belonging to the legend aurea' of the Jainas themselves, and partly perhaps invented quite recently, which then formed a sort of permanent commentary on the holy texts." S To this famous Bhadrababu is also attributed the Samhita unt of material for pot have at all tundes presents vith a View 1 ct Wintermite, op cit, p 817 * Charpentier, op at, Int , pp 50-51 * C Alasyaha-Sutra, vy 84-86, 61, Jacobi, op art, Int ,p 12 Jain, Jama Jatahas, Int , in Charpentier, op cit, Int , p 51 288
| SR No. | 011067 |
| Book Title | Jainism in North India |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Chimanlal J Shah |
| Publisher | Longmans Green and Compny London |
| Publication Year | 1932 |
| Total Pages | 66 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 3 MB |