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 of the Ayāra and Sūyagada which in form and contents, can just as well be included in the Bauddha Suttanipāta or Dhammapada belong to the samana literature of ancient India. I need not dilate upon this topic any more. So I may conclude it by reproducing the following words of Prof. Winternitz:
'We see, then, that in the sacred texts of the Jainas a great part of the ascetic literature of ancient India is embodied (the italics are not mine), which has also left its traces in Buddhist literature as well as in the epics and Purānas. Jaina literature, therefore, is closely connected with the other branches of post-Vedic religious literature.'-The Jainas in the History of Indian Literature (p. 147)
Narrative Literature and Folk-lore—Students of narrative literature need not be reminded of the fact that as shown by Prof. Johannes Hertel, the most popular recensions of the Pañcatantra are the work of the Jainas, and that it is in all probability a Jaina to whom we owe the so-called Textus Simplicitor of the Pañcatantra, and the Jaina saint Pūranabhadra completed in 1199, the Pañcākhyānaka or the Pañcatantra in the Textus ornatior.' Some of the Angas and their exegetical literature provide us with all sorts of narratives, legends?, stories, tales, parables, fables, anecdotes and ballads, to mention a few out of many. It is the careful investigation of this narrative literature of the Jainas that makes Prof. Hertel utter the following words in 'On the literature of the Shvetambaras of Gujarat (p. 8) :
"Characteristic of Indian narrative art are the narratives of the Jains. They describe the life and the manners of the Indian population in all its different classes, and in full accordance with reality. Hence Jain narrative literature is, amongst the huge mass of Indian literature, the most precious source not only of folk-lore in the most comprehensive sense of the word, but also of the history of Indian civilization.
The Jain's way of telling their tales differs from that of the Bauddhas in some very essential points. Their main story is not that of the past, but that of the present; they do not teach their doctrines directly, but indirectly; and there is no future Jina to be provided with a role in their stories.
Jain stories are much more reliable sources of folk-lore than the stories handed down in the books of the Bauddhas."--p. 9. 1. See The Jainas in the History of Indian Literature (p. 149). 2. For 4 varieties of narrations see Thāņa (IV, 2; s. 282). 3. The legend of the sons of Sagara and the descent of the Ganges is found in
Nemicandra Suri's com. (pp. 233-236) on Uttarajjhayana (XVIII, 35).