Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies Vol 01 Jaina Art and Architecture

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain, Others
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 451

Appendix IV
JÑĀNA-BHAŅDĀRA
The Jñāna-bhandāras or sastra-bhandāras, treasures or store houses of knowledge, is a Jaina institution and is generally regarded as the property of the Jaina samgha or community. These Jñana-bhaņdāras are also referred to as Cita-kosa, in some Jaina texts and manuscript colophons. The Bhārati-bhandāras and Sarasvati bhandāras are collections which are very much in their contents and some of them preserve most ancient copies of manuscripts on palm-leaves, paper and cloth on secular and religious subjects. Not only this, the bhandäras have illustrated manuscripts, patas and vijñaptipatras also. The history of the Jñana-bhandāras is closely associated with the progress and conservation of learning. Their foundation is attributed to a big famine of fifth century A.D., when most of the Jaina monks died and the sacred lore of the Jainas suffered considerably. The Jainas decided to take some steps in order to save the Jaina lore from complete extinction. As a result, a council under the presidentship of Devardhigani was summoned in c. 453 A.D. at Valabhi and with the consent of monks assembled there, the Jaina canons were committed to writing. Not much is known about the progress of book writing in the following centuries, but there is every possibility that the Jñāna-bhandāras were founded. These Jñana-bhandaras, attached to the temples, became the custodians of the sacred literature.
By the 10th century A.D. the educational value of the Jñana-bhandāras was realised by the Jaina monks. The founders took great pains to explain the society the importance of the religious and secular texts. The Bhattārakas, the person having responsibility to look after the management of properties and religious establishments, encouraged the people to enrich the temples with donations of manuscripts for spiritual enlightenment. It encouraged the Jaina bankers and laymen to order copies of the sacred texts and present
them to monks who deposited them in the Jñanabhandāras for the benefit of the posterity. Sometimes a devotee would order numerous copies of a particular text for purposes of dissemination to different centres. The Jaina Jñāna-bhandaras were basically sectarian in nature; however, the Jainas did not mind preserving in them books belonging to different faiths for ready reference and criticism. They also include the manuscripts of the great poets of India like Kālidāsa. This shows that the Jaina monks in middle ages were not narrowminded sectarians, but fully realised the importance of libraries preserving literature of all the faiths. The Jñana-bhandāras included the text of other subjects also such as grammar, mathematics, astrology and rhetoric.
The renowned rulers of Gujarat, Siddharaja Jayasimha and Kumārapāla, were the great patrons of the Jñāna-bhandäras. Jayasimha (A.D. 1093-1143) is said to have employed about three hundred scribers to copy out books on religious and secular matters for the imperial library. Kumärapāla (A.D. 1143-1172) is said to have established twenty-one Jñana-bhandāras. He employed seven hundred scribers and some of the manuscripts are said to have been written in gold. The example of these two Solanki rulers was followed by several great Jaina ministers such as Vastupāla and Tejapāla, Pethadasāha, Prthvidhara, Mandana Mantri and others. The two brothers Vastupala and Tejapāla became interested in learning and in Jñana-bhandaras on the advice of their teachers Vijayasenasūri and Udayaprabhasūri. They are said to have established three of the big libraries by investing a lot of money. Pethadasāha, a minister of Paramāra Jayasimha at Mandogarh in V.S. 1320 (=1263 A.D.) founded Jñānabhandāras in seven cities including Broach, Devagiri, Mandu and Abu.
The tradition of Jñana-bhandaras was common in
Jain Education Interational