________________
290
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[OCTOBER, 1888.
undertaken, when we are in a position to com- of their founders outweigh any arguments that pare the texts themselves. make for the contrary opinion. If we reflectand I here repeat what I have said on page 219that the Jain texts were, as the Jains themselves claim, codified in writing 1000 years after the death of the founder of Jainism, then it is really marvellous [241] that they appear to contain so much that is original. How large the number and how influential the character of the events which occurred in the interval, is for the present veiled in obscurity, although the information emanating from the Jains themselves (or more particularly from the Svêtâmbaras with whose literature we have specially to do) in reference to the seven schisms etc."" affords us at least some slight base of operations. One fact, for example, is noteworthy :-that the nakedness, which is adduced by the Brahmins (e.g. also by Varáhas mih. 58, 45. 59, 19) as a chief characteristic of the Jains, and which according to Buddhistic statements, was resolutely opposed by Buddha, assumes an unimportant position in the angas and at least is not regarded as a matter of necessity, see Bhag. 2, 187, 239, 314. Later the necessity of appearing naked was introduced as a dogma by a sect of dissenters. If we take into consideration the hate which the Svêtâmbaras, who played the role of the orthodox sect, manifested so vigorously against the Digambaras in particular (Kup. 797 7), it is no rash conjecture to assume that many prescriptions or traditions in regard to this point have been removed from the Siddhânta of the Svétámbaras. Even the orthodox do not deny that the Jinas themselves went naked;50 they assert merely that, what was permissible then is no longer permissible at the present day.
At the head of [242] the Siddhanta stand then:
The following review of the contents of the Siddhanta endeavours, in the first place, to disclose to us the actual constitution of the texts which are at the present day reckoned as belonging to the Siddhánta. In this review I follow the order adopted by Bühler (see above, page 226). Secondly, it purposes from the dates contained therein to cast light upon the most important points for the date of the composition of each single division, and for the life of the founder [240] of Jainism, as far as this is possible for me in this first assault upon its literature, remarkable not less for its immensity than for its monotony and intellectual poverty. The more exact details will be found in the second part of my catalogue of the Sanskrit and Prakrit MSS. of the Royal Library of Berlin, which is at present in the press. I have unfortunately been able to make use of the editions of anga 10 and upanga 2 alone out of the Calcutta and Bombay editions of the angas and upúngas, published 1876 ff.
At the conclusion of this introduction it may be permitted me to state that personally I still continue to regard the Jains as one of the oldest of the Buddhistic sects. The fact that the tradition in reference to the founder of Jainism deals partly with another personality than Buddha Śâkyamuni himselfwith the name of a man who in the Buddhistic legend is mentioned as one of the contemporary opponents of Sakyamuni-this fact, I say, does not, in my opinion, militate against the conclusion that Jainism is merely one of the oldest of the Buddhistic sects. It appears to me that the conception of the founder of Jainism as an opponent of Buddha can well be regarded as an intentional disavowal of religious opinion which took its rise in sectarian hate. The number and the significance of common features in both Buddhistic and Jain traditions in reference to the life and labours etc. of each
Of this new catalogue Vol. I. has since appeared under the title: Die Handschriften-Verzeichnisse der königl. Bibliothek zu Berlin, Vol. V. Part II. Vol. I. [352 pages; see ante, 1887, p. 316], Vol. II. [p. 353-828] which is particularly devoted to the sacred Jain Literature, is nearly ready.-L.
This view (which in Europe has apparently persuaded only M. Barth of Paris) will scarcely be maintainable any longer, since Prof. Bühler has discovered inscriptional proofs for the authenticity of the old Thêra lists given by the Kalpasútra see the two papers by Bühler in the Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes,
a. The 11 (or 12) angas.
We have seen above on page 211 ff. that, according to tradition, at the time of the first Jina all 12 angas were extant; that then beVol. I. p. 165ff. and Vol. II., (III), p. 1ff.-L.
According to v. 43 of Dhammaghosa's Kalasattari: térasasaêhim (1300) Vir hôhimti anêgahâ mayavibhêâ bamdhamti jêhim jiva bahuha kamkhai mohaniam II
désavisamvadinô dravyalingênâ 'bhêdinô nihnavah, Bôtikas tu sarvavisamvadino dravyalingatô 'pi bhinnah, according to the Vichârâmritasamgraha in Malayagiri's Comm. to Avisy.; cf. Jacobi, Kalpas. p. 15n.
so See Wilson Sel. W. 1, 294 ed. Rost in reference to the nakedness of Mahavira: cf. also the characterization of his doctrine in añga 3, 9 fin. as achelal.
