Mahanisiha Studies And Edition In Germany

Author(s): Chandrabhal Tripathi
Publisher: Chandrabhal Tripathi

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Chandrabhal Tripathi
8.1.4 As far as the information which can be gathered directly from the text is concerned, it should be mentioned that the whole of the Jaina Canon (āgama, siddhānta) was known to the compiler as a standard corpus and the text regards itself as standing beyond the canonical limits. Also post-canonical texts are available to the compiler, see e.g. pasatthāim siddhanta-(āyāra-)cariya-purāņa-dhammakahão (III.$41.3: B,p.69), the adjective pasatthāim being a clear indication that these texts belong to the Jaina literature. As a legendary account of holy persons we meet with the Arihantacariyā; and the genre of narratives was certainly fairly developed. The citations from texts like the Āvasyaka-. Pinda-, Ogha- and Daśavaikālika-niryukti; and the Vyavahārabhāsya show that the MNA is younger than all of them. One passage of the MNA (IV.913: B,p.180.34-35) seems to have a very close connection with the now extinct Praśnavyākaraṇa-cūrņi. Besides Niryuktis exegetical texts called Samgrahaņīs are named. It is rather unbelievable when our text tells that prominent leaders of the Jaina Church held it in high esteem; perhaps Haribhadra is to be considered as an exception. According to trustworthy sources, he must have known the MNA. (It should be remembered that the language of the MNA differs from that of the Samarāicca-kahā.) 8.1.5 We can, therefore, say in brief that the period of the MNA lies between the exegetical texts in Prakrit and Haribhadra, who is now placed in the 9th cent. AD. Haribhadra's older contemporary was Dharmadāsa-gani, whose Upadeśa-mālā has many verses in common with our text (see 16.2]. The borrower is most probably Dharmadāsa. 8.1.6 If the date of the compilation of our text is comparatively late, how it is, one may ask, that it could secure a place, though not uncontested, in the Canon among the Chedasūtras. The MNA is mentioned only once in the Nandi-sūtra”. The commentaries to the Nandi- and Pākṣika-sūtra explain the title by merely saying that because it is bigger than the Niśītha-sūtra it is called Mahānisītha. It is also likely that the title listed in the Nandi-sūtra belonged originally to a different text, whose traces could perhaps be discovered if we consider the Pacchitta-sutta. An examination of the atonements in the
33 Ed. Muni Punyavijaya, Pt. Dalsukh Mālvania, Pt. A.M.Bhojak: JĀG.1. 1968,p.32: $84), and this reference recurs in the Pāksika-sūtra, with Yaśodeva's comm. ed. Candrasāgara-gaņi (śrīmadVijayabhaktisūrisvara-jaina-granthamālā, 3. sam.2006,p.124, line 3. See Yaśodeva' comm. (op.cit.p.126,lines 12-13: niśītho madhya-rātris, tadvad rahobhūtam yad adhyayanam, tan niśītham ācārânga-pañcama-cūdêty arthaḥ. asmād eva granthârthābhyām mahattaram mahānisītham.