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( 2 ) precepts of universal character, namely, Ahimsā, Satya, Samyama etc., through tales and parables in which pattern characters were presented ; and their behaviour under given circumstances was to be a moral lesson to the reader. If the family feud of a tribal people like the Kauravas was used for the glorification of an incarnation of Vişnu by some religious school, the Sramaņic teachers used it as a part and parcel of the account of the Yādava family to place before the society different characters who get the fruits of their Karmas incurred by them in a number of lives. Their biographies parrate the lives of their souls in different births which are to be studied as a continuous and connected whole. The Jaina teacher wherever he went picked up the local myths, legends, bardic episodes, family accounts, popular tales etc. and fitted them in the pattern of his moral narratives. He addressed the masses more than the classes. Obviously he picked up the language of the area and used it effectively, if required, even by enriching it. Language was only means to an end, and to begin with no language had any religious sanctity as such for him.
2. Jaina Narrative Literature. The Jaina Teacher has immensely enriched Indian literature, especially the narrative branches of it, in different languages like Sanskrit, Prākrit, Apabhramsa, post-à pabhramsa verging on the borders of OldRājasthāni, Old-Hindi and Old-Gujarāti, Tamil and Kaunad:. The Ardhamāgadhi canon gives a number of tales. The didactio tone is apparent in all of them. These tales 'want to give lessons in good behaviour both to monks and householders or to nuns and houseladies. The pictures of the past and future and the horrors of transmigratory circuit tarn the believer .to tread the path of piety ; even if he has erred, there is a better future for him; and he should follow the instructions of a teacher like Jlahāvira. Asceticism is a sovereign remedy against all the ills of this and text life. The sins enumerated and professions condemned give a fine glimpse of the ethical code that Jainism has always insisted upon' (Bịhat-Kathākosa, Singhi J. Series, Bombay 1913, Intro., p. 25). The Paiņņas are full of references to stories about pious persons and ascetic heroes who suffered many a trouble while they led a religious life and attained spiritual emancipation. They are held before us as eminent personalities who deserve to be remembered on account of their religious piety, sinful acts and ascetio heroism or forbearance with their consequences here and elsewhere. The fate of the various characters in the story leaves a definite imprint on the pious
