History of Canonical Literature of Jainas

Author(s): Hiralal R Kapadia, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 138

THE EXTANT ĀGAMAS OF THE JAINAS
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(ii) Both the suyakkhandhas evidently differ from each other in style and in the manner in which the subject is treated. By the by it may be noted that there is a difference in style in the case of the 3rd Cūlā
two preceeding ones. This is probably due to the diversity of the matter.2
Some even go to the length of saying that the 1st ajjhayana of the 1st suyakkhandha is the oldest of all its ajjhayanas, and is written in the most archaic language. If this is correct we can say that there are at least three strata in Āyāra : (a) the very first ajjhayaņa, (b) the remaining ones of the 1st suyakkhandha and (c) the 2nd suyakkhandha.
Contents of the Āyāra – As its very name suggests, it deals with rules and regulations pertaining to the conduct of the Jaina clergy, and it is thus an example of caraṇakaraṇānuyoga. Uvāsagadasā which has for its subjectmatter the discipline of the Jaina laity, may be looked upon as its complement. As regards the details about the contents of Āyāra the titles of one and all the ajjhayanas indicate them. Even then it may be pointed out that ahimsā is held out as an ideal, and the means to refrain from himsā and the rigidity of the monastic life are here treated at length.
Himisā and ahiṁsā are associated with life. Consequently in Āyāra (I, 1, 5) vegetation is proved to be animate, by adducing nine similarities between the body of a human being and that of vegetation. Even life in earth, water, fire and air is established in earlier pages.
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lbid., p. XLVII. Ibid., p. LII. The 5 Cūlās are not the composition of one and the same author as can be seen from p. 120, fn. 2. So they present different strata according to their chronological order of composition. Moreover, if it is true that the verses and their fragments which are liberally interspersed with the prose of the 1st section, are older than the corresponding passages in prose-a view held by some scholars, it furnishes us with another kind of strata. Vasunandin in his com. Ācāravrtti on Vattakera's Mülāyāra observes that Vattakera intended to give in this work of his, a brief summary of the Āyara. Cf. A history of Indian Literature (vol. II, p. 577). " Ek Thief: 1 3ITETT:" --Siddhasena Gani's com. (vol. I p. 91) on Tattvärthasūtra. These are fully explained by śīlānka Sūri in his com. (pp. 594-60) on Ayāra.
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