Jain Journal 1968 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 98

242
JAIN JOURNAL
and XIII. Following up this precedent the next step was no doubt to collect and put together the Kathānakas of the remaining periods from Jambu down to Vajra The collection of the materials for the whole history of the patriarchates was achieved, probably for the first time, by Bhadresvara
Bhadresvara's work has few literary merits It is scarcely more than a collection of disconnected materials for the history of the Svetambara church, culled from the ample literature of Cürnis and Tikäs The Kahāvah compares unfavourably with the Sthavırāvalicarita by Hemacandra which reads like a connected history of the patriarchate from Jambu down to Vajrasena, told in fluent Sanskrit verses and spirited kävya style No wonder that it superseded the older work to such a degree that for a long time the Kathāvalt seemed to be lost, till but lately one single manuscript was brought to light
2. Independent Testimony
The Therävalis
Though the stories of the patriarchs whose sources have been traced are, on the face of it, incredible legends, still they may contain some grains of historical truth There can be little doubt about the historical character of the patriarchs of whom those stories are told, and of the order of their succession For both points are borne out by the ancient Therävals of the Svetambaras which it will now be our task to examine more closely
There are two classes of Theravalıs (1) that of the Nandi and Avašyaka Sutras, (2) those of Kalpa Sutra (Sthaviravalı) They are in perfect agreement down to Mahagirs and Suhastin, the pair of patriarchs in the eighth generation after Mahavira At that point the succession diverges in two lines, one starts from Mahagiri, the other from Suhastin, the first is recorded in Nandı and Avašyaka Sutras, the second in the Kalpa Sutra Both lines are of course entirely independent of each other, and have no member in common Almost all theras who figure in the ancient Kathānakas belong to the line of Suhastın
We shall now inquire into the line of Suhastin The Kalpa-sutra gives two redactions of the list, (1) a short one (samkhutavāyanā) and (2)
1 An apparent exception are the four theras Dhamma, Bhaddagutta, Vaira and Rakkhiya who belong to the Suhastin line, but in the Nandi Sutra 31 32 are included in the Mahagsrı-line However, the verses in question are an interpolation as Prof Leumann has proved, see ZDMG, vol XXXVII, p. 498