Book Title: 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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is really lacking. The ideas working behind the relation between original Jainism and its subsequent accretions as revealed in its doctrines, rituals and mythology, have not been traced historically. No light has yet been thrown on the problem of primitive Jainism, the kernel around which the accretions had developed, by stratifying the contents of the existing canons and connecting each of them with the turning points of the historical growth of Indian ideas in general. No serious attempt has hitherto been made to understand the evolution of Jain thought in terms of the corresponding developments in Brahmanical and Buddhist systems, and what is more, we have practically little or no idea about the material basis of Jain ideas which should be the fundamental of all such studies.
Literary Sources
Besides the Jain canonical writings and their commentaries, which are indispensable for the study of Jainism, the Brahmanical and Buddhist texts also offer many clues to the understanding of its history and doctrines. The Buddhist texts frequently mention Nigantha Nātaputta as an opponent of Buddha and refer to the essentials of Jain doctrines, although in a distorted way. We are very pleased to note of a recent work by B.C. Jain in which the Jain materials are carefully collected from the vast ocean of Buddhist literature. Unfortunately, no such attempt has yet been made in the field of Brahmanical literature although in the philosophical texts of Brahmanism Jain doctrines have been treated with great importance and there are many stray references to the Jains and Jainism in the epics and Purāṇas and also in the literary and technical works.
Both the Svetāmbaras and Digambaras hold that the original Canon of the Jains consisted of twelve Angas, but the Digambaras regard the Svetāmbara canon as wholly spurious. According to the Jain tradition, during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya, about the end of the fourth century BC there was a great famine in Magadha as a result of which a large number of young Jain monks migrated towards the south under the leadership of Bhadrabāhu, the celebrated ganadhara, while the more elderly ones remained in Magadha under the leadership of Sthulabhadra. It was during the leadership of the latter that some scriptural texts-the twelve Argas-were compiled in a special assembly summoned at Pāķaliputra. Mahāvīra's teachings
Jain B.C., JBL
