Nandisutt and Anuogaddaraim

Author(s): Devvachak, Aryarakshit, Punyavijay, Dalsukh Malvania, Amrutlal Bhojak
Publisher: Mahavir Jain Vidyalay

Page 157

... [ 12)... down by the gañadharas. The tradition of employing similar statements is also found in the Pāli Pitakas. It is needless to say that the Āgamas and the Pitakas or the original teachings contained therein are contemporaneous.
As we have already seen, the Anuyogadvāra contains even the usage of the word 'suttagame'. From this we understand that a body of written sentences were known by the term sūtra. The sūtra works, so called on account of their being written in a peculiar sūtra style, are well known. In the Vedic tradition a type of literature going under the title Gșhyasūtra and Dharmasūtra is written in this style. Moreover, in composing works that deal with the sciences like Vyākarana etc. this sūtra style is adopted. The special feature of this style is to put the matter in pithy sentences containing as few words as possible. Just as we string together the varied flowers in a garland even so in this style the various topics are, so to say, strung together through the arrangement of words; and hence the style is advisedly termed sūtra style. Those who have seen the Vedic works like Dharmasútras and GȚhyasūtras written in the sutra style will feel that the Jaina Āgamas should not be called 'sūtras' because they are composed in a style which is different from the well-known sūtra style. However, the Jainas have used the term 'sūtra' for their Agamas not because they are composed in the sūtra style but because their aim has been the same as that of the Vedic sūtras. The aim of the Vedic sūtra literature has been to comprehend, in a nutshell, all the teachings pertaining to Vedic Conduct. Similarly, the main object of the Āgamas has been to comprehend, in a summary fashion, all the teachings of Lord Mahāvira. Thus though the styles of these two groups of literary works differ, both of them could be called sūtras on the basis of their common feature, viz., the comprehension of their respective teachings in a summary fashion. When the varied gems or flowers are strung together they remain preserved, do not get scattered and are not lost. Similarly, when the teachings regarding Conduct are written down and given the form of a book they remain preserved for a long time. So, all these works deserve the term 'sūtra'. In this context the meaning of the term sūtra is :
sūtraņāt sūtram' (i.e., those works that put the various ideas together are called sūtras). The Buddhist Suttapitaka is also called sūtra in this sense only—and not in the sense of its being composed in a sūtra style. Again, the Jainas maintain that the meanings of one single sentence, grasped by different hearers, are innumerable in accordance with their innumerable capacities. As a sentence of the Āgama has the power to suggest in various ways innumerable meanings, that sentence or a collection of those sentences could legi. timately be termed 'sūtra'. In other words, the Jaina Agama is