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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
Introduction.
15
are said to have proceeded from the mouth of Mahâvîra. This statement is not to be understood as if Mahâvîra had actually composed the añgas, upangas, etc.; but as they record what had been taught by him, he is regarded as their author. For authorship in India depended chiefly on the matter, the words being rather irrelevant, provided the sense be the same. That Mahâvîra was not the author of the Sûtras in our sense of "author", can easily be proved by those works themselves. For many Sûtı commerce by relating that they were declared to Jambu by Sudharman. Most probably, the doctrines and words of Mahâvîra were, originally, not arranged into distinct works. But at Bhadrabâhu's time the eleven angas existed already, for he explained them in separate works of his own; compare also the legend of Bhadrabâhu and Sthûlabhadra related above, where it is said that the sangha of Pâţaliputra had collected the eleven angas. Since that time the Sûtras must have undergone many alterations. That can be proved by the Sthânângasútra, which classes under sthâna 7 the seven nihnavas or schisms. They are also mentioned together with some details in the Avaçyakasútra. As the seventh nihnaya happened in 584 A.V., it follows that even in the sixth or seventh century after Mahâvîra the Sûtras were liable to material additions ?). · The ultimate redaction of the Jaina books was, according to the common and old tradition (see notes to K. S. § 148), made 980 A.V. by Devarddhiganin Kshamâçramaņa 2). The date 980 A.V. corresponds with 454 of our Era, on the supposition that at that time the Nirvâna was placed 470 before Vikrama. But if at that time the older tradition by means of which we have adjusted the date of the Nirvâņa, was still in use, the corresponding year of our Era would be 514 A.D. Jinaprabhamuni and Padmamandiraganin relate that when Devarddhiganin saw the Siddhânta i. e. 45 Ägamas on the verge of dying out, he caused it to be written in books by the sangha of Valabhî. Formerly, they say, teachers instructed their pupils pustakanapekshayâ, without having recourse to written books; but afterwards they used books, and so they do now when delivering their lessons in the upâçrayas. This vriddhasampradâya does not imply that Devarddhiganin was the first who reduced the sacred lore of the Jainas to writing, but it states only that ancient teachers relied
1) More modern works, such as the Tikå of the Uttaradhyayana, add to these alpataravisumvadinah nilinavůh another bahutaravisamvadi nihnavak, that of the Diganbaras 605 AV. The Digammras say that the "Cvetâmbara utpatti" happened under Guptigupta, who was Thera samvat 36-46.
2) With this record agrees very well the fact that the Thorâvals of the Kalpasâtra and of the Rishimandalasûtra name as the last Thera Devarddhiganin, and the Therâvals of the Avaçyaka and Nandi Sûtras carry the list of the Theras down to him, but name him not; he is, therefore, supposed to have placed the Therâvali at the head of the Nandi and Avaçyaka Sûtras.
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