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well, and wherever differences occur, they have been stated as dispassionately as possible. I stand before you, not as a judge, but as one who believes in paying homage to Jainism through its dispassionate study.
S. B. DEO
IV
Jurisprudence: source texts for it
Having seen the nature of the canon and after expressing the nature of our approach, let us now take a review of the actual texts that contribute most of the material for the study of Jaina monastic jurisprudence.
As has already been noted, the canonical texts form the core of the material for the study of Jaina jurisprudence. Yet all the texts are not useful for this purpose. For our purpose the most invaluable group of texts is that which goes under the name of the 'cheyasuttas' of the Svetāmbara Jaina canon and those grouped under 'carananuyoga' by the Digambaras.
As is well-known, the cheyasuttas comprise six texts as follows:
(1) Nisihasutta
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
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Mahānisiha sutta
Vavahara sutta
Dasāsuyakkhandha (or Ayāradasão) Kappasutta (or Bṛhatkalpa), and
Pañcakappa (or Jiyakappa).
Of these six, the Dasă, Kappa and Vavahara seem to be closely related to one another in matter and treatment. They deal with various transgressions and the punishments prescribed for these, in a very summary fashion. These texts by themselves do not give any other background leading to the formulation of the code of discipline. Neither do they give any information as to the procedure of implementing a punishment against a transgressor. For these details we have to depend solely on the cunnis and bhāsas going with these which furnish us with
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