________________
CHAPTER VII
LITERATURE AND ART OF THE JAINS
(Literature)
The most ancient works of Jain literature, which are ascribed to Mahavir, were written in Ardhamagadhi language. This was 'prakrit' (i.e. popular, spoken language) of eastern Gangetic regions, a language of Indo-Aryan groups, a language of Aryans which had spread out in the environment of local Kshatriyas, and later of wider strata of population.
It is not known to us in which language Mahavir preached and to what extent Ardhamagadhi had spread in ancient Bihar in the middle of the lst millennium B.C. The written works of Jain literature appeared much later.
According to a legend, Mahavir expounded his sermons orally and his nearest followers (ganadharas) copied down his sermons, giving them the form of books (ganipitaka). On the basis of these books special teachers (Upadhyaya) taught the whole order of Shramanas. According to another legend of the Jains, the sermons of Mahavir were understood by all the people, irrespective of the language which they spoke.
Jains highly value Ardhamagadhi as the language of their holy writings and study it. Many Jain works—literary, philo sophical or scientific-were written in Sanskrit. Jain inscriptions, dated second century A.D. in the so-called hybrid Sanskrit, representing a mixture of local colloquial dialect and Sanskrit, have been found in Mathura. Literary Sanskrit partially stands as a language of Jain writings only from the middle of the 1st millennium A.D. As a result of its fusion with central Indian dialects, a special varicty of Sanskrit--the Jain Sanskrit has developed.
1. Muni Shri Nagraji, A Pen-Sketch of Acharya Shri Tulsi, p. 5. 2. V. Ivanov and V. Toporov, Sanskrit, p. 27.
80
