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Aspects of Brahmanical Influence on the Jaina Mythology
under the different names of Vidyarambha, Akşararambha, Akşarasvikarana and Akşaralekhana are all of later period than the Mahapurana 42 Thus, the inclusion of the Lipisamkhyānasamgraha in the list of the compulsory sacraments may be taken as indicative of Jinasena's great interest in the primary education of children
244
It will, however, be travesty of fact to hold that this important event of a child's life was unknown to the Brahmanical predecessors of Jinasena For, there is a positive proof of the prevalence of primary education in the Brahmantcal society pretty prior to the period represented by the work in question Kalidasa tells us that Raghu acquired knowledge of alphabets after he had undergone the tonsure ceremony 4a Again, Kautilya in his Arthasästra enjoins that a boy should learn scripts and numerals after his tonsure ceremony has been performed 44 Bhavabhutz's Uttararāmacarita45, too, points to the same fact All these evidences show that the tonsure ceremony was regarded, in the early period, as a passport for beginning the primary education of the child and in itself the act of learning the alphabet was possibly of a secular character.
Regarding the term Lipisankhyāna-samgraha, we must note that both Kautilya and Kalidasa47 use the term Lipi Besides, the former mentions also Samkhāna (counting) as a part of a child's primary education Moreover, in the context just referred to, Kalidasa uses the term Grahana48 instead of the usually known terms Arambha, Svikarana and Likhana Under the circumstances, it will not be illogical to state that in his choice of the phrase Lipisamkhyānasangraha Jinasena must have in mind the terms employed by his two predecessors.
42 Ibid, pp 137-38
43 Raghu III 28
44 वृत्तचौलकर्मा लिपि सख्यान चोपयुञ्जीत
45 Act II, Under verse No 3
46 Above, footnote 44
47 Op cit, III 28
48 लिपेयंथावद्ग्रहणेन
-1 2
-Ibid, III. 28
