Jaina Philosophy Historical Outline

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

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22 Jain Philosophy in Historical Outline
are elaborate encyclopaedias of all matters concerning Jain dogmatics.1 The authorship of the former is attributed to Devardhi. Besides, there are some supplementary texts like the Isibhāsiyāim dealing with sentences of certain Ṛsis concerning moral subjects, the Angaculiya-Vaggaculiyā and Viyāhaculiyā dealing with praises of moral values under the garb of legends and the Angavijjā dealing with various subjects of material importance.2
Many of the aforesaid works were composed before AD 750. The commentarial texts of the Svetambaras are also vast and the oldest among them are the niryuktis. These were written in Prakrit and were further developed into the bhāṣyas and curņis, also written in Prakrit, which again gave rise to tīkās, vivaraņas, vṛttis and avacurṇis in Sanskrit. Of the important writers of the Bhāṣyas may be mentioned Samghadāsa, Jinadasa and Siddhasena. It is said that Bhadrabahu had written niryuktis on ten texts, but it appears that there were more than one author of this name. Of other important commentators on the Svetambara canon mention should be made of Haribhadra (8th century), Śilāňka (9th century), Śantisūri, Devendragaṇin, Abhayadeva (10th-11th centuries), Hemacandra (12th century) and Malayagiri (14th century). We shall later have the occasion to refer to the works of these commentators and those of others.
Although the Digambaras, as we have already remarked, regard the Svetambara canon as wholly spurious, they have some authoritative scriptures of their own, described as Four Vedas and divided into four classes of Prathamānuyoga, Karaṇānuyoga, Dravyānuyoga and Caraṇānuyoga. The Pavayaṇasāra, Pamcatthikaya, etc. of Kundakunda (1st century), the Tattvārthādhigamasūtra of Umāsvāmin, the Mūlācāra and Trivarṇācāra of Vaṭṭakera (1st-3rd centuries), the Padmapurāṇa of Ravisena (7th century), the Aptamimāmsa and the Ratnakaraṇḍa-Śrāvakācāra of Samantabhadra (8th century), Harivamsapurāṇa of Jinasena (8th century), the Trişaşțilakṣaṇa-mahāpurāṇa of another Jinasena and his pupil Gunabhadra, etc. are regarded by the Digambaras as their sacred texts. In the South the Digambaras cultivated both Prakrit and Sanskrit. Of other Digambara writers we may refer to Svāmī Kārttikeya author of the Dvādaśānuprekṣā, and Yativṛṣabha who made a comprehensive survey of Jain cosmography in his Tiloyapanṇatti and also the famous leaders like Puspadanta,
1Ed. in AGS, 1924.
2For details about the Painņas, Cheyasuttas, Mūlasuttas and other texts see Schübring, DJ, pp. 107ff., Winternitz, HIL, II. pp. 458ff.