History of Canonical Literature of Jainas

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

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THE CANONICAL LITERATURE OF THE JAINAS On p. 17, there is a reference to games viz. atthāvaya and caüranga, to gambling, and to samāsa, paheliyāl and kuhedaga. So far as the date of this Cunni is concerned, only its lower limit can be fixed; for, Sricandra Sūri, 2 devotee of Dhanesvara Sūri, pupil of Sīlabhadra Sūri has composed a com. on it in Sarıvat 1227.3 As regards its upper limit, it is certainly posterior to the date of the composition of Jiyakappa by Jinabhadra Gani.
As regards the remaining Cunnis, I may simply say that those on Āyara, Sūyagada and Pañcakappa are described by me in DCGCM (vol. XVII) whereas the Cuņņis on Jīvājīvābhigama, Ohanijjutti and Pakkhiyasutta are noted in Jaina Granthāvali etc., and one on Mahānistha in Catalogue of Mss. at Jeselmere (p. 23).
It may be remarked that the Cunnis on various Agamas are said to be belonging to a period running from the 4th century to the 8th of the Vikrama era.
Before dealing with Tikā we may note that out of the terms Nijjutti, Bhāsa and Cunni, the first does not appear to have been used for a com. on any one of the non-Agamika works. Such is not however the case with the terms Bhāsa and Cunni; for, they are used for other works, too, though seldom. As the typical examples may be mentioned the following works for which Bhāsa is composed :
(1) Kammatthaya, (2) Saļasīi, (3) Sayaga, (4) Saddhasayaga and (5) Sittari.
Out of these works, there is a Cunni for all except the first and the second. Further there are Cunnis for Kammapayadi, Samanovāsagapadikkamaņa,4 etc. Thus it will be seen that the non-Agamika works of which the commentaries are styled as Bhāsa and Cunni are few and far between, and at least, so far as the Svetāmbara literature is concerned, these terms seem to have been used for works of sufficient antiquity.
1. It means a poetical riddle. Dandin has mentioned 16 kinds of prahelikā in his
Kā vyādría (III, 96-124). 2. Before he became Sūri, he was known as Pārsvadeva Gani. 3. See its printed edition (p. 59). 4. See DCGCM (vol. XVII, Pt. III, pp. 290-293).