Tenth Wonder Domestication And Reform In Medieval Svetambara Jainism

SR No.: 269515
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Paul Dundas
Publisher: Paul Dundas
Total Pages: 14
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 2 MB

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Paul Dundas
contemporary disputes 40, while the decisive factor in Jineśvara's final victory is said to be his recourse to the Daśavaikālikasūtra, whose contents his opponents try to conceal 41, an act tantamount to the perversion of the whole of scripture since, according to tradition, this work was composed by Sayyambhava as a summary of the canon 42. On a similar occasion in Kharatara history, Jinapatisūri (twelfth-thirteenth cent. A.D.) catches his opponent, the caityavāsin Pradyumna, deliberately omitting a passage from an authoritative text which contradicts his position 43. Here, as in comparable situations in Hindu hagiography, the source and outcome of debate rest upon scripture 44. The Daśavaikālikasūtra plays an important role in the early life of Jinavallabha. He was originally the pupil of a caityavāsin who, despite possessing a copy of the scriptural canon, refused to allow his pupils to see it. It was only after clandestinely inspecting the scriptures, and in particular the Daśavaikālikasūtra, that Jinavallabha realised that his master had been deceiving him and that he was on the incorrect path 45. Here, the impetus to correct spiritual practice is portrayed as stemming from knowledge of sacred writings, and scripture is used to demonstrate that the caityavāsins were, in Carrithers' phrase 46, «betray[ing] the principles enshrined in the charter » of the Jain sangha. Yet, at the same time, it must, be admitted that Süra in the DP seems to display an equal concern about the importance of scripture (āgama) and its injunctions (vidhi) (e.g. DP 5.75-81), and it might be worth considering whether there was any incompatibility between the two sides' view of what scripture represented.
40. Kharataragacchabrhadgurvävali, p. 3.
41. Ibid., and Sumati's account, p. 19 (see footnote 19). Daśavaikälikasūtra 8.51 is cited in both accounts.
42. See W. SCHUBRING, in « Kleine Schriften >, Wiesbaden, 1977, pp. 111-2.
43. Kharataragacchabshadgurvāvali, pp. 41-2. The text in question was the Oghaniryukti.
44. See P. GRANOFF, Scholars and wonderworkers: some remarks on the role of the supernatural in philosophical contests in Vedānta hagiography, in JAOS, 105 (1985), pp. 459-67.
45. Kharataragacchabshadgurvāvali, p. 8 and Kharataragacchapattāvalisangraha, p. 25.
46. In «Man » (n.s.), 19 (1984), p. 320.