________________
116
BRHAT-KATHAKOSA
this old niti-work popular all over India, including Indo-China and Indonesia. The Panchakhyāna, in Sanskrit and in different vernaculars, became indeed so popular a book in all these countries, that its Jain origin was completely forgotten, even by the Jains themselves.
"The Bauddha story-tellers, moreover, turn to their advantage the rage of the populace for the miraculous, the horrid, and the atrocious; they repeat, over and over again, the same motives in the same stories, and they have no idea of psychological motivation and causation. Their stories are characteristic Buddhist, but by no means characteristic Indian stories.
"Characteristic of Indian narrative art are the narratives of the Jains. They describe the life and the manners of the Indian population in all its different classes, and in full accordance with reality. Hence Jain narrative literature is, amongst the huge mass of Indian literature, the most precious source not only of folk-lore in the most comprehensive sense of the word, but also of the history of Indian civilisation.
"The Jains' way of telling their tales differs from that of the Bauddhas in some very essential points. Their main story is not that of the past, but that of the present; they do not teach their doctrines directly, but indirectly; and there is no future Jina to be provided with a rôle in their stories.
"It is evident that under these circumstances the Jain narrators are at complete liberty. As they cannot possibly have the intention to make the persons of their stories act in accordance with morality, they are free to relate the old stories, as these stories have been handed down to them by literary or by popular tradition. Whether the actions of the persons of their stories are moral or immoral, whether these persons become happy or unha py, this is no concern of the story-teller. For the moral teaching imparted by the story does not lie in the events themselves as they are related in the tale, but in the explanation which the Kevalin gives at the end of this story. This Kevalin shows that all the misfortunes undergone by the persons which act a part in his narration, have been caused by bad deeds, and that all their good luck has been caused by good actions, done by them in their previous existences. It is clear that this manner of teaching morals is applicable to any story whatsoever, as in every interesting story the creatures whose adventures are related in it, must needs undergo various vicissitudes. The consequence of this fact is that no story-telling Jain monk is obliged to alter any story handed down to him, and that from this reason, Jain stories are much more reliable sources of folk-lore than the stories handed down in the books of the Bauddhas.
"Jain monks, however, were not only reproductive, they were really productive of stories. They invented new stories and novels for the sake of their propaganda books; and literary story-telling was taught in their schools." It is necessary, therefore, that the various Jaina narrative texts in Sanskrit,
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
