Development And Impact Of Jainism In India And Abroad

Author(s): Gunvant Barvalia
Publisher: Arham Spiritual Center

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The issue of Svetambara Aagamas in a globalized world
Nalini Balbir
Professor (Indology), University of Paris
Preserving the Svetambara Agamas is an old concern. When, in mid 5th century, Devarddhiga?i summoned the Valabhi meeting in order to get them written, we are told in later accounts of the events (by Samayasundara in the 17th century, for instance), that recourse to the written form was a way to avoid more losses and to save what could still be saved. Since then the Agamas have been transmitted without interruption. From the time when manuscripts have become available (11th century onward), they have been copied continuously. They were not copied, however, all together in sets of 32 or 45, a form which has become obvious today, but rather either individually or in small groups so that it is hardly possible to find one manuscript containing them all. Only, we have isolated instances of Murtipujak lay Jains who, in the 16th-17th centuries, decided to collect manuscripts of the various Agamic works so as to build full sets of the 45. Such projects are occasionally stated in manuscriptcolophons. They are a sign of the importance wealthy Jain laymen and their families attached to the copying of the Agamas in their original language, with or without commentary, in a context where the number of Agamas recognized as authoritative (32 or 45) had become a sectarian mark to some extent. To keep the Agamas alive along the centuries has always required a certain amount of effort and creativity. One way to achieve this was the continuous production of commentaries, the language, form and style of which have evolved to suit new audiences. It seems clear that direct access to the texts in their original Ardhamagadhi Prakrit language tended/tends to be rather unequally shared among Jain mendicants themselves and was/is not prevalent among all monastic orders. Access was/is mediated through simple paraphrases in modern languages (?abos or balavabodhas) and only some of the books were/are studied in the initial stages of monastic curricula. The first printed edition of the Agamas dates back to the end of the 19th century but was not up to the mark. Since the 1920s, several learned scholar-monks have become aware of the necessity to procure proper editions based on carefully selected manuscript material, giving due consideration to the issues raised by the textual transmission. The Agamodaya Samiti was established by Anandasagarasuri (1874-1949) to this effect. At a later stage, projects aiming at true critical editions, with a clear apparatus of variant readings, were formed. One came from the Terapanthin side, at the initiative of Acharya Tulsi and Acharya Mahaprajna, another one from the Mahavira Jain Vidyalay, at the initiative of Muni Punyavijaya and other scholars, followed later by Muni Jambuvijaya ('Jaina-Agama-Series'). Both initiatives seem to have been influenced by what had been done by the Buddhists for the Pali Tipi?aka. The idea was to provide the Jain Agamas with tools of the same standard. The two projects were conceived separately and prefaces or explanatory documents show that their promoters had diverging attitudes towards the place to be given to the readings of the commentaries and distinct views on how to deal with Prakrit linguistic variants. These two editions are highly commendable and have to be used by anyone willing to work seriously on the texts. In 2000,
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