History of Jaina Monachism

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

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S. B. DEO
The details and the interpretation of these and those of other minor dynasties will be done in chapters dealing with the picture of Jaina monachism as revealed from epigraphs and the growth of Jaina Church in India. Scope and limits of the thesis :
Having taken a survey of the material at hand and its drawbacks, the scope and limits of such a history of Jaina monachism may be indicated as follows:
(a) Inspite of the facts regarding the late codification of the Svetāmbara canon and the possibility of its original material having undergone some change, the thesis is based on the accepted opinion of the scholars regarding the antiquity of its different parts.
Not ignoring the opinion that each book contains older and younger portions, we have proceeded on the possible antiquity of a group as a whole, rather than dissect each and every part of an individual text. It may be made clear that unless critical editions of all the texts of the Canon are published, it is very difficult to carry out such a penetrating dissection. Till then, our task will be to present the picture of the development of Jaina monachism as revealed in the material at hand whose probable sequence has received the general approval of scholars. It is, at the same time, hoped that the probable periods assigned to these various texts may help the idea of having critical editions not only from the linguistic point of view but even from the point of view of other items like art and architecture, social habits and other details involved in them.
The scheme of the order of descending antiquity would be like this:
(i) The Angas and the Mūlasūtras may be said to depict the state of Jaina monachism from the sixth century B.C. to roughly the fourth century B.C. Making, however, a concession to the opinion that only some parts of the Acāränga and the Sūtrakstānga are the oldest among the Angas, we may take these two books as representing the oldest phase of Jaina monachism. Then we may study the development or otherwise as revealed in the other texts of the Angas, and lastly in those of the Mülasūtras.
As the Digambara works are not available at such an early date, we may not study their practices in this phase. Moreover, we have already seen that the Digambaras also hold in esteem the tradition of the Angas and the Pūrvás, and that their canon also contains some of the names of the Svetāmbara Mūlasūtras.
(ii) The second phase may be said to be revealed in the Chedasūtras, Niryuktis and the rest of the texts of the Canon. These texts possibly depict