Jainism by Vividus

Author(s): Ramnik V Shah
Publisher: Ramnik V Shah Canada

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others. These disciples were 1: Indrabhuti 2. Agnibhuti 3. Vayubhuti 4. Aryavyakta 5. Arya Sudharman 6. Manditaputra 7. Mayurputra 8. Akampita 9. Achalabhratra 10. Metarya 11. Prabhasa. Two of these are frequently mentioned; one, Indrahbhuti and the other Sudharman, who related in turn all this knowledge later to Jambuswamin. Two kinds of sacred books are referred to: one, the fourteen Purvas the other, the eleven Angas. Later, all were termed twelve Angas, the Purvas making up the twelfth Anga under the name of Drshtivada.
Gradually during the thousand years after Mahavira, all Purvas appear to have bean tost, leaving only the eleven Angas, the redaction of which took place in approximately 450 A.D. under the guidance of the patriarch Devardhigani. The oral knowledge of the fourteen Purvas had continued only down to the 8th patriarch after Mahavira viz Sthulabhadra and of the ten Purvas out of the fourteen upto the next seven patriarchs, the last being patriarch Vajrasena, Today, a substantial number among Jainas maintain that none of these Purvas or Angas is genuine as, according to them, all original oral texts including eleven Angas were lost after nine more generations from Vajrasena. Nothing. however, can be emphatically and definitely stated in view of the existence claimed of several Shashtra Bhandaras (storehouses of scriptures) at several holy places, including temples scattered throughout the length and breadth of India, which the Jainas refuse to open. The history of invasions. plunder, loot, sacrilege and destruction and also that of theft, corruption and misuse in India over the centuries after Mahavira to date has so frightened the Jainas that at present they will not allow access to these Bhandaras, even to scientists and scholars for preservation and research. No one knows the unimaginable consequences.
The titles of some of these texts are very illuminating, as will be seen from the following list :