History of Jaina Monachism

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

Page 40

HISTORY OF JAINA MONACHISM
35
(a) The Angas :
Irrespective of the fact that no exhaustive details about the list of the Angas as acknowledged by the Digambaras is available, yet it may be noted that there appear many similarities between the Angas of the Svetāmbaras and those of the Digambaras.
For instance, the name of the sixth Anga for both of these sects is identical--viz. Nāyādhammakahão.93 The three Prajnaptis, however, are included by them in the first section of the Dşștivāda.
Regarding the identity of the rest of the books of the Angas between the Svetāmbaras and the Digambaras, BÜHLER quotes an interesting incident. He says, “The list of the Angas which they (i.e. the Digambaras) gave me agreed very nearly with that of the Svetāmbaras. But they asserted that their Angas though bearing the same names as the Svetāmbara books, differed in substance. In order to test this assertion, I handed to the Pandits a copy of the Svetambara Bhagavatī, and they at once conceded that it was the same text which they used every day."94 (b) The Angabāhyas :
The second category of the canon of the Digambaras is called as the Angabāhyas or those texts which fall outside the Anga group. This collection of texts is also termed as the Prakirņakas and contains works like the following:
(i) Sāmāika (ii) Caturvimśatistava (iii) Vandana (iv) Pratikramana
(v) Daśavaikālika (vi) Uttarādhyayana (vii) Kalpa-Vyavahāra.
From the names at least, it appears that the first four are similar to the four sections of the Āvaśyakasūtra which goes as one of the Mūlasūtras of the Śvetāmbaras, while the fifth and the sixth correspond to the Mülasūtras of the latter. The seventh appears to be similar to the Chedasūtras of the same names of the “vetambara Canon.
93. WINTERNITZ, op. cit., Vol. 2, p. 473.
94. 1. A., Vol. VII, p. 29. The last part of Bühler's remark cannot be verified. The Digambaras do not possess any Bhagavati. The Pandita consulted by Bühler is perhaps misled by the opening salutation which is common to all Jainas.