Jaina Philosophy Historical Outline

Author(s): Narendra Nath Bhattacharya
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi

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Introduction
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Lassen's brief sketch of Jainism, based upon the aforesaid sources, was published in 1861 in the fourth volume of his famous work. Thus with these studies in the original Jain texts the study of Jainism itself underwent a revolutionary change. The earlier scholars, despite their great interest, mostly failed to recognise the basic difference be ween Jainism and Buddhism. No wonder, Colebrooke, Prinsep and Stevenson regarded Mahāvīra as the teacher of the Buddha while Wilson and Weber held Jainism to be an offshoot of Buddhism. Some aspects of doctrinal similarities and also those in some names occurring in the Jain and Buddhist scriptures contributed greatly to the misconception which was not completely removed until Hermann Jacobi demonstrated beyond all doubts the independence of Jainism and Buddhism.
The foundation of a correct assessment of Jainism was, however laid by Weber whose fresh study Uber ein Fragment der Bhagavatī, ein Beitrag zur Kenntniss der heiligen Literature der Jaina, published in two parts (1865-66) in the Memoirs of the Academy of Berlin, was epoch-making not only from the view point of religion but also from that of the newly-evolved science of philology. His subsequent researches in Jainism, based upon the manuscripts acquired by the Royal Library of Berlin (1873-78) through Bühler, led to the publication of the "Sacred Literature of the Jains' in Indische Studien XVI (1883) and XVII (1885). Bühler was allowed to collect manuscripts even for foreign libraries, provided they were doubles. He did not confine himself exclusively to the collection and listing of the Jain manuscripts, but at the same time drew the attention of the scholars towards the study of Jainism through his monograph entitled Uber die indische Sekte der Jainas (1887). The manuscripts thus collected from various sources were catalogued in the valuable reports of Bühler himself and also in those of Kielhorn, Peterson and Bhandarkar. Works on Jain manuscripts were further carried on by Leumann, Huttemann, Brown and others. 3
Ind. Alt., IV, 755-787. 'Eng. tr. H.W. Smith in IA, XVII-XXI.
'Schübring, LJ, Eng. tr. by Beurlen, DJ, pp. 4ff. S. Warren's critical ed. of the Nirayāvalião was published from Amsterdam in the year 1879. Leumann, a pupil of Weber, cdited the Anpapātika Süira which came out in 1883. The Prakrit Mss. of the Nijjutis and Cunnis were also utilised by him (1872, ZDMG, XLVI, pp. 586ff.) as a result of which the first part of his Avasyaka Erzahlungen came out in 1897, the further publication of which was, however, stopped owing to his plan to