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Introduction.
The Dasaveyāliya Sutta forms part of the Āgama or Siddhānta, the Canon of the Holy Scriptures of the Jains. Together with the Uttarajjhāyā (commonly called Uttarajjhayana Sutta), the Āvassaganijjutti and the Piņqanijjutti it forms a small group of texts named Mülasutta. This designation seems to mean that these four works are intended to serve the Jain monks and nuns in the beginning (a) of their career. Similarly, another group of texts which are intended to lay down rules of monkish life and to fix the course of procedure in case of transgression, is called Cheyasutta after the gu (c), a punishment which consists in "shortening" the seniority of the culprit, thus degrading him in rank.
At an early stage the monk has to become acquainted with the principal tenets and rules of the Order. To the latter belong the Avassaga (91919) formulas and the rules regarding the acquisition of alms (form) from which two of the Mūlasuttas derive their name. In the titles of the other two, such concrete items do not appear, the names having a general meaning which, however, cannot be made out with absolute certainty. This contrast in the titles has its parallel in the diversity of the contents of the works. For in them, the special disciplinary topics, to a great extent raised to a higher level by a metrical adaptation, are intermingled with contemplations of a more general nature and descriptions of the monk's life, with systematical treatises, and with legends and parables of an educational character. From this mixture of contents it can easily be understood why tradition, as represented in Hemacandra's Parisista parvan 5, 81 ff. in accordance with earlier models (among them Dasaveyāliyanijjutti 14 foll.“), should ascribe the origin of the Dasaveyā
1) For both passages compare Jacobi's edition of the "Sthavirâvali Charita or Paribishtaparvan", Calcutta 1891.
