Jain Journal 1970 01

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

Page 28

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JAIN JOURNAL
vāna was in 477 B.C. As we know from Pali sources, he was a contemporary of Gautama and is likely to have survived him by seven years19.
Pali texts, moreover, give numerous details about thinkers and their schools in the Buddha's time. F. O. Schrader, a pupil of Leumann, made them the subject of his thesis in 190220. The most important of those philosophers was Gosala Maskariputra, the head of the Ajivika sect, whose interesting career has been repeatedly treated by Hoernle21. That Asoka knew the Jainas under the name of Nigantha (Topra edict 7, 26) was Buhler's statement22. Their early history in so far as it is reflected by Hemacandra in his Parisistaparvan (the Sthavirāvali) and in legends pertaining to it, is due to Jacobi no less than is the right interpretation of what is called the schism thạt led to the separation of the Svetambara and Digambara communities. They did not, as old time would have it, separate by an act of violence but gradually, until, eventually, both partners became aware of their differences.
It might have been expected that continued Jaina research in Europe should have led to the origin of a Jaina Text Society as a counterpart to the well-known Pali Text Society. Pischel expressed his hope in this direction23, but things took a different course. The edition of canonical texts—which, of course, was the most important-did not go on methodically, but as circumstances would have it. We are glad to say that the Jainas themselves came to help, if, to be true, in their own style. Agamodaya Samiti, founded at Mahesana in 1915, has published most works of the Svetambara Siddhānta and many more non-canonical texts. These handy prints mark a great progress as compared with the monstrous volumes mentioned above. The classical commentary in Sanskrit has been added. It is wanting in the Jaina Sutra Battisi which was a rather primitive undertaking (Haidarabad, 1920), though Rsi (i.e. Sadhu) Amolak24 had contributed a Hindi paraphrase. The most
19 SPAW 1930, p. 557ff. ($19). Counter-arguments brought forward by Keith
Bull. School of Or. Studies 6, pp. 859-866. 20 Uber den Stand der Indischen Philosophie Zur Zeit Mahaviras and Buddhas.
Strassburg, 1902. 21 Uvas. II app. ; Encyclop. of Religion and Ethics I, p. 259ff. Later publications
see $18. A full account of Schools and Sects in Jaina Literature by Amulya
Chandra Sen, C. 1931. 22 ZDMG 46, p. 91; Ep. Ind. 2, p. 274. Acc. to the former place the discovery is
due to Lassen. 23 SPAW 1903, f. 11. Pischel lived half a century too early to see the founda
tion of the Prakrit Text Society on a large scale in 1953. For the first volume see $ 56. The same as Amolak Rsi, the author of Mukti Sopan (Haidarabad, 1915) born in S. 1933, as is evident from the preface.