History of Canonical Literature of Jainas

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

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A HISTORY OF THE CANONICAL LITERATURE OF THE JAINAS
title except that the word meaning small or great is used as a prefix. They are (i) Culla-kappasuya and Mahā-kappasuya, (ii) Khudḍiya-vimāṇapavibhatti and Mahalliya-vimāṇapavibhatti, (iii) Nisiha and Mahānisīha and (iv) Pannavaṇā and Mahāpanṇavaṇā.'
So much for the Agamas of the Svetāmbaras. The Digambaras, too, divide their Agamas into two classes: (i) anga-pravista and (ii) anga-bahya. The former has 12 sub-divisions, and their names almost tally with those of the 12 Angas. The latter has many sub-divisions, kālika and utkalika being chief of them. Uttaradhyayana is mentioned in this connection in Tattvārtharājavārtika (p. 54); but it is there neither specifically referred to as kālika nor utkālika. Turning to Tattvārthasaradipikā,2 we learn that Parikarma, one of the five sections of Drṣṭivāda includes works such as Candraprajñapti, Suryaprajñapti and Jambudvipaprajñapti. The anga-bahya group is said to consist of 14 works, each of which is styled as Prakīrņaka. The first four of them are entitled as Sāmāyika, Caturviṁśatistava, Vandana and Pratikramana. These seem to correspond with the four sections of Avassaya, out of six. The other works worth nothing are: Daśavaikālika, Uttaradhyayana, and KalpaVyavahāra since they remind us of the corresponding works of the Śvetāmbaras. It may be mentioned that the Digambaras believe that it is long since that all the canonical treatises of the Jainas have been lost, and the Śvetāmbara canonical works are not genuine. Besides, the Digambaras have a secondary canon or a substitute canon. This canon which is spoken of as the four Vedas, consists of works of a later date. These works are divided into 4 anuyogas. As for example, the Purānas or the legendary works like Padmapurāṇa, Harivaṁśa-purāṇa, Mahāpurāṇa, Uttara-purāṇa etc., are looked upon as forming a group known as prathamānuyoga. Similarly cosmological works such as Suryaprajñapti, Candraprajñapti etc., come under the group karaṇānuyoga. The works on the darśanika (philosophical) literature e.g. Kundakunda's Pavayaṇasāra, Umāsvāti's Tattvārtha, Samantabhadra's Aptamīmāmsā etc., form the third group styled as dravyānuyoga. Ritualistic works like Vaṭṭakera's Mūlācāra and Trivarṇācāra, Samantabhadra's
1. It may be noted that at times even Pindanijjutti has the word mahalliya prefixed to it, in order to distinguish it from the Pindesana-nijjutti which is smaller than this and which forms a part of Dasaveyāliya-nijjutti, See D.C.J.M. (vol XVII, pt. III, No. 1116).
2. On the basis of this work, a complete survey of the canonical treatises of the Digambaras is given in Bhandarkar's Report for 1883-4, p. 106 ff. As stated in A His. of Ind. Lit. (vol. II, p. 473 n) this may be compared with Weber, HSS.-verz. II, 3, 823 f., Guerinot, p. xxx f., and J. L. Jaini's preface (p. 12 ff.) to SBJ (vol. V).