Jain Journal 1974 04

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

Page 28

166
JAIN JOURNAL
Sutrakrtānga dates back to a period between the versifications of the Southern and Northern Buddhists.
Take the Aryā metre also as a confirmation of the above proof, and the Dhammapadam, which is composed in ancient Pali, will be found to contain no such verses. Then notice that the Sutrakstārga, just as we should expect if it dated as we have suggested above, contains a whole lecture in an old form of Aryā ; and the later the period the more common the Aryā metre, till it is found not only in the younger parts of the Siddhānta, and in Brahman literature (whether in Prakrit or Sanskrit), but also in the works of the Northern Buddhists (e.g., the Lalita Vistara).
Lastly, the form of the Tristubha metre in ancient Jaina works is younger than that in the Pali literature and older than that in the Lalita Vistara. In all three cases then it appears that the Gathā of the Lalita Vistara are more modern than those in the Jaina Siddhānta. Hence Jacobi puts down the chronological position of the oldest parts of the Jaina literature as intermediate between the Pali and the Lalita Vistara'.
We have seen that the date of the oldest works in the Jaina Canon makes them older than the Gāthā of the Lalita Vistara. What date are we to assign to the latter? We know that it is said to have been translated into Chinese in 65 A.D. Therefore extant Jaina literature must all be placed earlier than our era. Again, from the close comparison of Pali, Jaina, and later Prakrits, it has been shown that Jaina literature resembles that of the Southern more than that of the Northern Buddhists. Compare this with Max Mueller's conclusion to his discussion on the point, when he fixes the latest date of a Buddhist Canon at the time of the Second Council, 377 B.C. and it will be seen that the whole of the Jaina Siddhānta was composed after the fourth century B.C., and before the Christian era. It is interesting then to notice that the traditions of the Svetambara agree fairly well with this independent reasoning. For they say that their Anga were brought together at the time when Candragupta was on the throne. And this date is given by Max Mueller as 315-291 B.C., and by Westergaard and Kern as 320 B.C. Therefore the composition of the Jaina Canon would fall somewhere between the end of the fourth and beginning of the third century B.C. Both sects of the Jaina attributes the collection of works to Bhadrabahu.
Works older than the existing Canon
Besides the Jaina Scriptures, the Svetambara and Digambara speak of some older works called Pūrva, as well as the Anga. There were