Jainas in History of Indian Literature

Author(s): Jinvijay
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown

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JAINAS IN INDIAN LITERATURE 125, and again in the. IX Adhyayana of the Uttarajghayana-from a literary point of view perhaps the most interesting book of the Jaina canon-, in the beautiful ballad of King Nami, where the ascetic ideal is contrasted with that of the warrior and ruler. This is one of the Paccekabuddha legends, which J. Charpentier has traced in Buddhist and Jaina literature. These are stories of Kings who have retired from the world, after having been reminded of the transitoriness of life or of the pleasures of peace of mind, of the evils of greed and lust by some insignificant event, such as the sight of a mango-tree deprived of its fruits, or of two vultures fighting for a bit of meat and lacerating each other, or of a bull running towards a cow and being pierced to death by another bull. All these legends belong to the ascetic literature of ancient India. Other legends of this kind occur in the XII Adhy, of the Uttarajjhayana, which has been shown by J. Charpentier (Zeitschrift der D. Morgenl. ges. 63, 171 ff.) to have its counterpart in the Mātanga-Jātaka (Nr. 497), and again in the XIII. Adhy. of Uttarajjhayana where we meet with the legend of Citta and Sambhūta, which E. Leumann has long ago traced in the Buddhist Jātaka Nr. 498 and in two other Jaina versions. One of the most interesting pieces in the Jaina Angas is the Paësi 1 Studien zur indischen Erzablungsliteratur I. Pacceka
buddhageschichten, Uppsala 1908 and Zeitschrift der
Deutschen Morgenl. Ges. 66, 38 ff. 2 Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes 5,
111 ff.; 6, 1 ff.