Indian Antiquary Vol 21

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 20

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JANUARY, 1892:
WEBER'S SACRED LITERATURE OF THE JAINS. TRANSLATED BY DR. HERBERT WEIR SMYTH.
(Continued from Vol. XX. page 878.) XVII. The Afth upangam, sariyapannatti (sAryaprajnapti) bhagavati, in 20 půhudas (prabhirita) of which 1 has eight, 2 three, and 10 twenty-two subdivisions called pühadapibuda. This strange name på huda is found beside here only in the puvva contained in the ditthivia. By the nse of this word a special connection between the ditthivaa and this upå nga is eo ipso rendered probable. Cf. also the direct statement in the introduction to up. 7. In discussing abga 3 I have remarked (p. 269) that its mention of a su apatinatti designated as angab&hira had reference to this upånga, though it could not be regarded as certain that the present form of this apange was thereby attested for that period. If it is doubtful whether the present form of this up. existed even at the date of the Nandi [402) in which the súrapannatti also is enumerated among the anamgapa vittha texts; but there are two other texts enumerated together with (or immediately after) the strap., treating in all probability of the same subject, which are at present discussed in books I and 9 (see note 1, pages 406, 407). Perhaps the double mention of the sûrap. in Ävasy. Nijj. 2, and 8 64, is to be referred still farther back, though it is still in dubio whether this mention refers to the present text or not. In the first of these passages, the author says of himself that, besides other texts, he desired to provide both the sûriapannatti and the isibhâsiya with a nijjutti. If tradition is correct, Bhadrabâhusvåmin is to be regarded as the speaker; and Malayagiri in the commencement of his comm. on uv. 5 makes especial mention of a lost niryukti of Bhadr. on the fifth uvanga. In the second passage both of the texts just mentioned are adduced together with the kâliasuam (the 11 avgas according to the schol.) and the ditthivaa as the four anuyôgas, i. e. objects of study. In this passage the isibh. occupy the second place, the súrap. the third, the ditthivaa the fourth. The sûrap. occupies here manifestly a very important position. The importance of the work is in fact very great, as is apparent from the thoroughgoing report I have made concerning is in Ind. Stud. X. 24 - 316. In it we find the most remarkable statements concerning the astronomy of the Jains arranged in a systematic form of presentation. [403] Apart from these most peculiar lucubrations, this account is of especial interest inasmuch as it displays remarkably close affiliations with the Vedic calendar-text called Jyotisham, with the Nakshatrakalpa and the parisishtas of the Atharva-Veda. The quinquennial yogam, sun and moon, and especially the 28 nakshatras, are placed in the foreground. The planets are known (Jupiter and Saturn with their periodic times), though they assert a very unimportant position and are not cited in the Greek order. There is no mention whatsoever of the zodiac. The 28 nakshatras begin withi Abhijit, and the yugam consequently begins with the summer and not with the winter sulstice. The libido novandi of the Jains, which has intentionally changed almost entirely everything which they enjoyed in common with the Buddhists or Brahmans, is here very apparent. In reality, the Jains are but tolerably fitted out with intellectual gifts. In order to conceal and compensate for this lack of originality they seek to possess something that is their individual property, and to attain this end they do not hesitate to indulge in the wildest dreams of fancy. In the province of astronomy they have viven full reins to their imagination. The polemical spirit, manifested especially in the sûrap. against other opinions (padivatti), proves that they are perfectly aware of the opposition between their own views and those generally accepted. The beginning of the nakshatras with Abhijit as the sign of the summer solstice, [404) which Malayagiri presumably refers back to Padaliptasûrit (1. 1. 286), pre-supposes Aśvini as the sign of the vernal equinox (1. c. pp. 304, 305). It is
1 In up. 6 - see p. 414- a division into vatthus is ascribed, as seems probable, to our text. The name vatthu at least recalls the purvas.
? isibhAsiy him is explained by the schol. here by uttaradhyayanidini; on 2, 6 by devendrastavkidini. See pages 259, 281, 429, 432, 442.
* An imitation of this passage is the one quoted from Slanka on p. 258. 4 In the year Vira 437 according to the thêrávali of the Kharatarag. see Klatt, p. 23.