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The Practice of the Earlier Tîrthankaras
167 the Ardhamagadhi Canon which understands by it the four vows out of the five laid down by Lord Mahâvîra.
On this point Pt. Sukhlalji has noticed briefly the tradition as contained in the Mulâcâra and other Digambara Jain works. But the data presented by him leaves us in doubt as to the exact nature of the tradition and its bearing upon the subject of the religious form of the earlier Tirthankara. I am therefore attempting here to present that tradition in a more clear form and see how far it is in agreement or at variance with the Ardha Magadhi and Pali traditions. In the Mulâcâra Vattakera we find the following verses:
वावीसं तित्थयरा सामयिय-संजमं उवदिसंति । छेदुवाट्ठाणियं पुण भयवं उसहो य वीरो य ।।१।। आचक्खिदुं विभजिदूं विणाएं सुहदरं होदि । एदेण कारणेण्दु महव्वदा पंच पण्णत्ता ।।२।। आदीए दुब्बिसोधण णिहणं तह सुटठु दुरणुपालेय । पुरिमा य पच्छिमा वि हु कप्पाकप्पं ण जाणंति ।।३।।
The purport of these verses is as follows:
The twenty-two Tirthankaras (“from Ajitanatha to Pârsvanatha) have preached Sâmâjiya Sanjama (Sk. Sâmâyika Samyama) while the First and the Last Tirtharnkaras (i.e. Rishabha and Mahâvîra) preached Cheduvatthaniyam (SK. Chedopasthâpanâ samyama). The reason for laying down five vows was that this method makes it easier to explain analyse and understand the subject matter. People at the beginning were hard to purify and at the end it was difficult to make them keep to the right path. Thus people, at the beginning and at the end did not know what to do and what not to do."
These verses are followed in one edition of the Mulacara (Text & trans. by Jinadasa Parshvanatha Phadkule Sholapur) by another verse which is as follows:
अज्जव जडा अणज्जव-जडा य उसह-वीर-तित्थजा मणुजा ।
तेसिं सुबोधमत्थं छेदोवट्ठावणं वुत्तं ।। 'straight but dull and not-straight and dull were the people
