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CONTRIBUTION OF PRAKRIT TO JAINA CANONICAL LITERATURE DR. N. VASUPAL M.A. Ph.D.
MADRAS
The Jaina canonical works constitute an important section of Prakrit Literature. Jainism admits in this era twenty four Tirthan karas who are responsible for the promulgation of the religion of dharma from time to time. The 22nd was Neminātha, the cousin of Krsna, the 23rd was Pārsvanātha whose Historicity is accepted now; and the last was Mahavira (599 to 527 B.C.), whom Buddhist texts mention as Niganthanataputta. He was senior contemporary of Buddha, he came from a ruling clan and he was related to the royal families of Magadha. The preachings of Mahavira and his disciples have come down to us in the Jaina Agama or the canon in the Ardhamagadhi form of Prakrit language. Exigencies of time, especially a famine, required its first systematisation by the Pataliputra council, some time in the 4th Century B.C., which was followed by subsequent attempts from time to time, attributed to eminent teachers like Skandila, Nāgārjuna and Devarddhi. There are a few texts of individual authorship too. The canon, as it is available today was systematised, rearranged, redacted and committed to writing by the Vallabhi Council under Devarddhi in the middle of the 5th Century A.D. The earlier lists of canonical texts, possibly as classified at the time of earlier compilation are preserved to us in the canon itself.
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