History of Canonical Literature of Jainas

Author(s): Hiralal R Kapadia
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre

Page 207

190
A HISTORY OF THE CANONICAL LITERATURE OF THE JAINAS
canonical literature in Samskrta and not in Prākrta as before. Is there any parallel instance of this type anywhere else ?
Saṁskrta language has been freely and fairly resorted to by Haribhadra Sūri and other saints who followed him, while they were engaged in composing Samskrta commentaries on the Jaina canon. These commentaries and the Samskrta quotations occurring in Cunnis enrich the Samskrta literature.
In the end I may say that the Gujarāti commentaries on the Āgamas are very helpful for the study of the old Gujarāti language.
Intonation - It seems that most of the people are under the impression that intonation is associated with the Vedas only, so far as the Indian literature is concerned. But it is not so; for, in Anuogaddāra (s. 151) we find the word ghosa used while defining this sutta and while indicating as to how it shold be pronounced. This word ghosa meaning udāttādisvaraviśesā occurs in Vavahāra (X), too. In Tattvārtha which is a compendium of a portion of the preachings of Arhat as stated in its Bhāsyakārikā (v. 22) we have in IX, 25, the word ämnāya. It is explained as under in its Bhasya (p. 258) :
"आम्नायो घोषविशुद्धं परिवर्तनं गुणनं, रूपादानमित्यर्थः ।" Siddhasena Gani while commenting upon it observes on p. 258 : "आम्नायोऽपि परिवर्तनं उदात्तादिपरिशुद्धमनुश्रावणीयम्यासविशेषः."
From this it will be clear that udātta, anudātta and svarita are associated with the canonical literature of the Jainas, too; but, strange to say that neither do we come across any Jaina Mss. of these works indicating udātta etc., nor do we find any Jaina saint reciting their holy scriptures by paying attention to udātta etc.
Versified commentaries - A work may be either in prose or in verse. Usually the text is in prose, and at times it is in verse. But, probably a versified commentary is a novelty, and the fact that we have at least two versified commentaries on one and the same text of the canonical literature of the Jainas, is still a greater novelty. For, I do not think that in the Indian literature there is any parallel to this feature of the Jaina literature. $
Synonyms - We have already noticed that egattha is one of the
1. One of them is a Nijjutti and the other a Bhāşa or at times Bhāsās. 2. These occur in Śūdraka's Mrcchakațika (Act I, v. 18, 21, 22, etc.). " See page 213 of addition.