Narrative Tale in Jain Literature

Author(s): Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Asiatic Society

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NARRATIVE TALE IN JAIN LITERATURE
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Ditthivāya has been summarised (M. 512-520), but the crucial names are not properly indicated. To illustrate how different Parisahas or hardships, of which we get an account in the Uttarādhyayana, chap. II (M. 484), were endured by the ascetic heroes of the past, various names are mentioned; but the text gives very few biographical details (M. 485-503 etc.).
This bird's-eye-view of the narrative sections from the Ardhamagadhī canon reveals to us certain broad traits. The legends are associated mainly with three Tirthakaras, Nemi, Pārsva and Mahāvīra : the majority with Mahāvīra and minimum with Pārsva. In all the legends connected with Nemi, Krsna Vāsudeva figures quite prominently; and they get closely linked with what we call Harivamsa. The tales belonging to the age of Mahāvīra give good many details about contemporary dynasties and kings. Though they are didactic in spirit, it is quite apparent that some characters are historical persons. As remarked above, some legends are specifically Jaina, while some are special editions of common Indian legends with ethico-religious bias of Jainism.
Some evidence is preserved in the canon itself as to how these pattern-stories etc. were kept in traditional memory. Almost all of them stand at present in prose, but in some places the series of names are put in the form of a verse. Further Uvāsagadasāo gives a few verses which must have served a good aid to memory of the teachers who gave the stories in detail when the occasion arose. The commentaries on the texts like the Nāyādhammakahão give pithy verses summarising and explaining the motive of the stories. It is difficult to say whether these verses are the later summaries of the present texts or the texts themselves have such verses at their basis. Though the first alternative is not altogether excluded, I feel inclined to accept the second alternative as a general rule. The entire narrative of the Samarāiccakahā was presented by Haribhadra on the basis of a few verses which too have come down to us. Such verses do presuppose stories in oral tradition, but they themselves lie at the basis of the written compositions available at present.