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JAINISM: A THEISTIC PHILOSOPHY “GOD IN JAINISM"
Teaching of Arhat Pārśva and the distinctness of his sect from that of Arhat Vardhamāna is known only through the available Ardhamāgadhī canon preserved in the northern church of Mahāvīra, because the ancient church of Pārśva was later progressively absorbed in the former and the records and texts relating to its hagiology and history are long lost.
Pt. Sukhlalji Sanghvi, a Nirgranthologist was of the opinion that the Pūrva literature, (so often mentioned in the canonical literature from the late Kuşāņa period onward) had belonged to Pārsva's tradition." And at present, however, no text of that category or specification exists. The knowledge of Pārsva's teaching and tradition is solely dependent on the canonical literature of Mahāvīra's tradition and to a very small extent, on the Pāli canon of the Buddhist as well.
According to Dr. Sagarmal Jain, it is in the Isibhāsiyāiń alone that the original version of Pārsva's teaching is directly and implicitly present. Elsewhere such as in the Sūtrakstānga, the Uttarādhyayana, and the Vyākhyāprajñapti, Pārsva's views are met with proxy, through the discussions between the followers of Pārsva and that of Mahāvīra or in a few instances by Mahāvīra himself.
Distinctness of Pārsva's Sect: Pārsva as well as Mahāvīra belonged to the Nirgrantha section of Śramanic tradition, which had several similarities in doctrine, philosophy and religion practices. So far as the philosophical aspect of their teaching is concerned, the traditions of Pārśva and Mahāvīra have much common. Pt. Sukhlal Sanghvi and other scholars of Nirgranthology are of the opinion that the
58Pt. Sukhalal, Cāra-Tīrtharkara (Hindi), PVRI, Varanasi 1989, P- 141-143, see also “Introduction” The Sacred Books of East, vol. XXII, P- XIIV 59 Arhat Pārśva and Dharanendra Nexus''P-20
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