History of Canonical Literature of Jainas

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

Page 22

GENESIS OF THE JAINA SCRIPTURES
at least, was rather backward in intelligence as compared with Indrabhūti; or else why should he have been obliged to put such a big number of questions as 15 ? Furthermore, we do not know the actual answers given by Lord Mahāvira by way of replies to these 15 nisadyas; but it seems highly probable that trīpadi might have played therein the main part, if not the sole part.
As already said on p. 3, on the whole, 11 dvādaśāngis were composed by 11 Ganadharas, one by each of them. It, however, so happened that the dvādaśängis of the 8th and the 9th Ganadhāras not only tallied in meaning, but even in the compilation of words, and so did the dvādaśāngis of the 10th and the 11th Ganadharas. This is rather a curious coincidence;2 for, there is no wonder, if the underlying spirit of one dvādaśāngi does not differ from that of another, when each has the same basis viz. tripadī to fall back upon.
A dvādaśangi means no doubt a collection of 12 Angas. But it should be borne in mind that there is a difference of opinion regarding the order of these 12 Angas which constitute a dvādaśāngi. Some believe that the 12 Angas were composed in the following order :
(1) Āyāra, (2) Süyagada, (3) Thāņa, (4) Samavāya, (5) Viāhapannatti, (6) Nāyādhammakahā, (7) Uvāsagadasā, (8) Antagadadasā, (9) Anuttarovavāiyadasā, (10) Panhāvāgarana, (11) Vivāgasuya and (12) Ditthivāya.
Others maintain that 14 Puvvas which make up Puvvagaya, one of the five sections of Ditthivaya, were first composed, and they were followed by the
1. cf. Trisasti (X, 5)
"एवं रचयतां तेषां सप्तानां गणधारिणाम् । परस्परमजायन्त विभिन्नाः सूत्रवाचनाः ॥१७३||
अकम्पिताऽचलाभ्रात्रोः श्रीमेतार्य-प्रभासयोः । परस्परमजायन्त सहक्षा एव वाचनाः ॥१७४।। 2. This coincidence led to the formation of 9 ganas (schools) instead of 11; for,
otherwise there would have been 11 schools, one school for each Ganadhara out of 11. That only 9 schools came into existence is borne out by the following line occurring in the Cunni (p. 337) on the Avassaya :
अकंपिय-अयलभातीणं एगो गणो, मेयज्ज-पभासाणं एगो गणो, एवं णव गणा होति ।" 3. These are the titles of 12 Angas. Angas 6 to 11 have their titles in plural; so some
mention them in the nominative as Nāyādhammakahāo, Uvāsagadasão, Antagadadasão, Anuttaravāïyadasão and Panhāvāgaranāim. See Samavāya (s. 136)
and Nandi (s. 45). 4. The pertinent portion in Nandi (s. 57) which mentions these five sections is :
"दिट्टिवाए णं सव्वभावपरूवणा आघविज्जइ, से समासओ पंचविहे पन्नत्ते, तं जहा-परिकम्मे १. सुत्ताई, २. Yoolul, 3. 37937), 8. f67371 811"