Critical Introduction to Panhavagara

Author(s): Amulyachandra Sen
Publisher: Amulyachandra Sen

Page 48

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hābhārata legends on the basis of the works mentioned above as well as other minor Jaina works, has been made by Dr L Alsdorf in Harivam sa purāna des Puspadanta (an Apabhramsa teat)
Chap 5 Possession of property is desired by various kinds of gods and various classes of men It is the cause of people occupying themselves with the 72 kalās and thc 64 mahılā-gunas-)
Section E - The Consequences of the Five Sins
In the first chapter this section narrates at considerable length, as is only natural in a work of didactic character as our text is, the horrors of hell and the various kinds of tortures and sufferings therein From hell, the sinful soul is reborn many times among lower animals and among four-, threc-, two and onc-sensed beings and suffers the pains attendant thereon Even if they are born as human beings, they obtain a malformed body, suffer from diseases, and are miserablc and unfortunate
Noticeable in this connection is the absence of any mention of final liberation through adoption of an ascetic's life, which characterises so prominently the narratives on sinners in earlier texts Not only sinners but even other people, both ordinary and eminent, must pass through the ascetic's life and then obtain mohkha, according to the tales in Angas 6-9 Our text warns one against the evils of sin and extols the virtues of morality, but does not extol asceticism as such This change of emphasis probably indicates a , change in the temper of the community when rigorous asceticism had fallen off from its high pedestal and had ceased to be extolled as an end in itself, yielding place to a greater consideration for things as they actually were Accepting the community as it was, Te, consisting of a greater number of laity than ascetics, it naturally found propagation of moral teaching as of more practical use and interest than urging the community to renounce the world This cection runs thus -
1) Sec supra p 12