History of Jaina Monachism

Author(s): S B Deo
Publisher: Deccan College Research Institute

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S. B. DEO Six Cheyasuttas:
(1) Nisiha. (2) Mahānisiha. (3) Vavahāra.
Dasāsuyakkhandha, (or Ayāradasão). (5) Kappa, (also Brhatkalpa). (6) Pañcakappa, (some put Jiyakappa).
Four Mülasuttas:
(1) Uttarājjhayana. (2) Dasaveyäliya.
Avassaya. (4) Pindanijjutti, (some put Oha-n-o).
Two Miscellaneous Texts:
(1) Nandi. (2) Anuyogadāra.
Authorship of the Canon:
The Jaina tradition attributes the creation of the sacred lore to the Arhat,35 and the systematic compilation of it in sūtra form to the ganadharas or the chief disciples of the Master. The essence of the doctrine was contained by the fourteen Puvvās which Mahāvīra was said to have exposed to his eleven ganadharas. Unfortunately the knowledge of these texts was gradually lost, and only a single gañadhara could hand it down to posterity. The Council of Pāțaliputra:
This episode of the loss of the canon and the Digambara non-recognition of it, is connected with the famous famine in Magadha during the reign of Candragupta Maurya. It is said that during his reign, starvation conditions led to the migration of a section of the Jaina Church under Bhadrabāhu to South India, while another group under Sthūlabhadra preferred to stay at home.
When the famine was over and normal conditions prevailed, a council was summoned by Sthūlabhadra at Pāțaliputra early in the 3rd century B.C., to collect and co-ordinate the extant portions of the canon as the famine con
35. Atthar bhāsai arihā suttar ganthanti ganahară niunam sāsanassa hiyatthae tao suttam pavattai. So also we come across the set formula at the beginning of the texts or chapters in it: 'Jai ņam bhante samaņeņa bhagavayā Mahavirena' etc.