Canonical Literature Of Jainas

Author(s): H R Kapadia
Publisher: Hindi Granth Karyalay

Page 73

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THE CANONICAL LITERATURE OF THE JAINAS
[CHAP.
That the sacred works of the Jainas were not freely reduced to writing for several centuries and thus for this period the servi ces of the art of writing remained practically unutilized for lightening the burden of the memory, requires a satisfactory explanation. In the case of the Vaidika literature, it may be argued that its sacred character was partly responsible for this; for, it was probably feared that the most sacred possession of the race might pass into profane hands, if the Vedas were committed to writing. Furthermore, the necessary guidance for cultivating proper accent and intonation-a point of great importance could be had from the lips of an animate teacher and not from the pages of an inanimate book.2 Over and above this, there was a danger of a scribe committing dittographic and haplographic errors and at times misreading the characters and thus transforming the original out of recognition. I do not think, it is any one of these considerations that weighed heavily in the minds of the Jaina saints and that prevented them from reducing to writing the sacred works of their school. On the contrary, it appears that their desire of strictly observing their noble and ennobling mahāvrata viz. aprigraha prevented them from resorting to writing. Moreover, those saints who kept Mss. were denounced. This is borne out by the Cunni (p. 214) on Dasareyaliya, the Bhasas on Nisiha, the Bhasa on Kappa etc. Further, penances were prescribed to those who wrote even one letter. But the times, as it were, willed it otherwise, and in course of time these rules had to be modified, so much so that permission was given for keeping any of the five types of Mss. pertaining to the Nijjuttis of kaliyasuya, on find1- See Dr. A. S. Altekar's Education in Ancient India (pp. 145-146). 4 " पोत्यएस घेtपंतसु असंजमो भवः"
5-6 "पोत्थग जिण दितो वग्गुर लेवे य जाल चक्के य"
7
“जत्तियमेत्ता वारा मुंचति बंधति व जत्तिया वारा ।
जति अक्खराणि लिहति व तति लहुगा जं च आवजे ||" - Bhāsa on Kappa
8
In the Cunni (p. 21) on Dasaveyaliya, it is said: "कालं पुण पडु चरणकरणट्टा अवोच्छित्तिनिमित्तं च गेण्हमाणस्स पोत्थए संजमो भवइ ।"
9 See my paper Outlines of Paleography (pp. 101-102).
10
In the Bhisa on Nisiha (XII) it is observed: "a dei fff"