Jains Through Time

Author(s): Shilapi Sadhvi
Publisher: Veerayatan

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The Jains through Time
expression of more mundane things. The Jain Agamas were in Prakrit. To elevate the status of the Jain Agamas amongst scholars it was necessary for Siddhasen to translate them into Sanskrit. It was difficult for the sadhus, bound by the tradition and rules of their order, to accept change, so they opposed him at every turn. They said to Siddhasen, "Why have you translated the Agamas into Sanskrit? If Tirthankar Mahavir and his Ganadhars (the first mendicant disciples of a Tirthankar) had wanted us to learn the scriptures in Sanskrit, they would have given them to us in this language. Tirthankar Mahavir was all-knowing; didn't he know about this language Sanskrit? There must have been some purpose in preaching the Agamas in Ardhamagadhi only." As punishment for his rebelliousness", Acharya Siddhasen was expelled from the order for twelve years. The Acharya, who had great respect for his order, did not take his banishment as an insult, rather he relied on his own feeling of self-worth, and took it as a challenge and an opportunity to develop inner strength.
Tirthankar Mahavir chose to preach in Prakrit because it was then the language of the common people and it was appropriate in that environment. I do not ever remember Tirthankar Mahavir stipulating that Prakrit should be the sole, language used in the teaching and preaching of Jainism. When I observe the manner in which Buddhism quickly adopted languages as different as Sinhalese, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, it is very disheartening to see that Jainism took so long in making the relatively small step from Prakrit to Sanskrit. It seems that the infinite ideas of Mahavir were confined to a very narrow spectrum of expression. Whilst Christianity, the most active missionary religion of the day, ensured that its holy book, The Bible, was available in almost every language, some Jain traditionalists were reluctant to embrace even the prestigious national literary language of ancient India.
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I am not saying that this reluctance still exists to the same extent; Jainism currently uses many languages other than Prakrit to put across its message. However, whilst other