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JAIN JOURNAL
Vol. XLIX
No. 1-4
July 2014-June 2015
Need of the Day-Comparative Study
of Indic-Religions Prof. Sagarmal Jain*
Orientation :
General Knowledge of different Prakrits with their peculiarities and their literature, along with Jain concepts of non-violence, non possession and non-absolutismism is essencial for Indic studies Indian culture consist of two traditions Sramanic and Vedic. At present Śramanic tradition has mainly two traditions- Jainism and Buddhism though there were some other were vanished in due course of time or merged in the greater Hindu tradition of Indian culture.
Early Jaina canonical literature has been written in prākrit languages, so to know Jainism in its original form knowledge of prākṣit languages, with their grammar and with their different shades and their literature is necessary. Buddhist literature has been written Pāli language. In earlier times Pāli also had been called as Māgadhi, which was one of the shades of Prākṣits. Pāli and Ardha-māgadhi which was one of the shades of Prākṣits. Pāli and Ardha-māgadhi language of Jain canonical literature are very near to each other. Various Prakṣit :
Prākṣit language has various shades such as Māgadhi, Addhmāgadhi, Saurseni, Mahārastri and Paisāchi etc. Jain canonical literature of Swetāmber sect had been written in Addhamāgadhi and of Digambar sect in Saurseni prākṣit. These two sades of Prakrit
Director, Prachya Vidyapith, Sajapur, M.P.
