________________
Jina Pārsva in Jaina Canonical Literature
27
B.C. for the date of the nirvana of Mahavira, or 753 B.c. if the Vira-nirvana took place in 477 B.C. as Jacobi had reckoned.)
An attempt at the reconciliation of the Church of Mahāvīra with the Church of Pārsva is recorded in the Uttaradhyayana-sutra. (This chapter [23], in my opinion, is anterior to the formulation of the conception of 24 Tirthankaras).
The belief about the sequence of the 24 Tirtharkaras is first met with in the Caturvimśati-stava (c. 1st century A.D.) - one of the six āvaśyakas- and next in the Samavāyanga (24) (present version c. A.D. 363). There, Pārśva finds mention before Mahāvīra as last but one Tirthankara. Some more information about Pārsva (along with that of the other Jinas) is also found there as well as in the Sthănānga (likewise enlarged c. A.D. 363). (For detailed information inside these two agamas, one may refer to my Sthānanga-Samavāyānga, 696-745).? Here I must add that some of this information in the Sthānănga and the Samavāyānga possibly may have been extracted from an earlier source like the Prathamānuyoga of Arya Syāma I (c. last quarter of the 1st century B.c.). And the Paryusaņā kalpa may have used the same source or the Sthānanga and the Samavāyānga, or perhaps all the three.
The jñātādharma-kathā II (c. 3rd 4th century A.D.) deals with the female disciples of Pārśva but, from the description, they happen to be of lax character (vis-à-vis, of course, the stern and strict practices enjoined in the Church of Arbat Vardhamāna Mahāvīra.)
Though the Paryusanā-kalpa does not mention, the earlier source Ācārānga II.15.25 (Bhāvanā) mentions that the parents of Mahāvīra were the follower of Pārsva (Pāsāvaccijjā, Pārsvapatya). It must, however, be noted that the Avaśyakacūrņi (c. A.D. 600-650), which treats the life of Jina Vardhamāna Mahāvīra at some length, does not so report.
In the Païņņaga or the Prakīrņaka list of the Samavāyānga (p. 943) are quoted some sangrahani-gāthās in which the personal appellations in the previous births of the 24 Tirtharkaras are mentioned and in that Sudamsaņa (Sudarśana) is the name of Pārsva's in his penultimate birth. Seemingly, this païnnaga part had been somewhat lately added to the Samavāyānga.
The first attempt to give some general information on the 24 Tirthankaras is found in the Avaśyaka-niryukti (198, C. A.D. 525; see also the Višeşāvasyaka-bhäsya, 1636). About five decades earlier, it had been noted in the Paümacariya (c. A.D. 473) as well.
Here we are concerned with the narrative on Pārsva's life, and as far as my knowledge goes, Jinasena's Pārsvābhyudaya-kavya (c. A.D. 825 or after A.D. 815)
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
