Dravya Sangraha

SR No.: 011098
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nemichandra Siddhant Chakravarti, Saratchandra Ghoshal
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Total Pages: 324
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, P000, & P040
File Size: 29 MB

Page 61

DRAVY A-SAMGRAHA, 1.
Besides these Indras among Gods, there are also others among men and among the lower animals.
There is a difference of opinion between the two principal sects of the Jainas as to the number of Indras. "The Svetâmbaras assert that there are twelve heavens and sixty-four Indras ; ” but "the Digambaras maintain that there are sixteen heavens and one hundred Olympian monarchs (Indras)." From a verse † found in most of the commentaries on Digambara Jaina works, we learn that “there are forty Indras among the Gods who dwell in Bhavana (sphere), thirty-two among the Gods (who live in) Vyantara (sphere), twenty-four among the Gods (living in) Kalpa (sphere), two among the Jyotişa or planetary Gods, the sun and the moon, (one among) men and (one among) the Tiryaks # (i.e., all creatures excluding Gods, men and inmates of hell)."
Mahâvîra is said to have been the propounder of all the Jaina Canonical works. The wrong theory that Mahåvira is the founder of Jainism and that Jainism is an offshoot of Buddhism, las long ago been exploded ; and when we say that there is a tradition that Mahavîra spoke to his disciples what has been embodied in the Canonical works of the Jainas, it must be understood that, though the fundamental truths of Jainism were preached long before Mahậvira, it was after the Nirvíņa of this last Tirthankara that the teachings of Jainism were reduced to writing which formed the basis of the Jaina Canonical works now extant.
The Angas which are the Canonical works of the Svetâmbara sect of the Jainas are said to have been dictated by the fifth Gaņa-. dhara Sudharma Svámi to his disciple, Jambu Svâmi, when the latter asked the former to explain the tenets of Jainism as laid down by Mahavira. In the Abgas we find questions like this: "What has been laid down by Lord Mahavira, the Tirthankara, on such and such a matter?" $ put to Sudharmâ Svâmi by his disciple,
* Asiatic Resoarches, Vol. XVII, p. 289.
भवणालय चालीसा विंतरदेवाण हेांति बत्तीसा। कप्पामर चउबीसा चंदो सूरो गारो तिरमो॥ # "drage aan afectarat: 1'.
[Tattvärthadhigama Sûtra by Umasvami, IV. 27.] “समोणं भगवया महावीरेणं आइगरेणं तित्थगरेणं...""के अहे पण्णते।"
-Gb&tridharakatlanga. Introduction. A agr HERANU Pepue 1-Vipáka Sutrânga. Introduction.