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THE CANONICAL LITERATURE OF THE JAINAS (CHAP. was added to Āyāra (1). It is also possible to say that this is only a record of the old tradition.
Before I deal with the contents of Uttarajjhayaņa, I may mention that leaving aside the 29th ajjhayuna and some portion in the beginning of the 2nd and the 16th ajjhayanas, the rest of the work is in verse, and it comes to 1643 slokas. In this connection I may note the following observation made by Prof. Schu. bring in his intro. (p. v, fn. 2) to "The Dasaveyāliya Sutta":
"The Arya chapters of the Uttarajjhayaņa Sutta are evidently later than the bulk of that work. The same can be said of the Āryās in Ayārañaga II, 15."
Ajjhayanas ix, XII-XIV, XXII, XXIII and xxv supply us with old legends: Ajjhayana IX deals with a dialogue of King Nami with Indrą disguised as a Brāhmana. The latter tells him that he should perform his duties as a ruler and a Ksatriya. Thereupon Nami ably refutes his arguments by pointing out the excel. lence of true asceticism.
Ajjhayana XII is a dialogue between a proud Purohita and Bala, a despised Muni of the Candala caste. The latter says that a Brāhmana is not superior to others simply because he happens to be born as a Brāhmana; for, it is rather the right sort of penance that makes a man dignified and lofty. Moreover, undue importance should not be attached to external formalism and ceremonialism.
Ajjhaygņa XIII is a dialogue between Brahmadatta (an emperor) and an ascetic. Both of them were once born as brothers in a Cāņdāla family, and on their being harrassed for their untouchability, they had resorted to asceticism. In this birth, Brahmadatta is being pursuaded to renounce the world but he pays no heed to it.
Ajjhayana XIV is a splendid dialogue between a Purohita and his sons. Herein the latter convince the former that the ascetic ideal is to be preferred to the pseudo-Brāhmaṇika, one. Thereupon all of them and the wife of that Purohita, too, take the Jaina dīkņā.
