Narrative Tale in Jain Literature

Author(s): Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Asiatic Society

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NARRATIVE TALE IN JAIN LITERATURE
stories and get more details about the names casually mentioned in the wide range of early Jaina literature some specimens of which have been passingly surveyed above. This much is certain that no writer would refer to names like this unless he has definite stories in view either in oral tradition or in written records. The fact that some stories have been traced with the necessary details means that further studies are needed to connect these names with the well-established tales.
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C) LATER TENDENCIES AND TYPES
After taking this passing survey of the narrative elements in early literature, it is possible to take stock, with typical examples, of the growth of subsequent Jaina narrative literature from the earlier seeds. We are concerned more with the types and their broad traits than with detailed particulars about each work.
The material for the lives of 63 Śalakāpuruṣas (24 Tirthankaras, 12 Cakravartins, 9 Baladevas, 9 Vasudevas and 9 Prativāsudevas) is found partly in the Kalpasūtra and, in its basic elements, in the Tiloyapanṇatti and Viseṣāvasyaka-bhāṣya as we have seen above. These lives have assumed a definite pattern, though the extent of details and descriptions etc. differ from author to author. It appears that some earlier works, like that of KaviParameśvara, have not come down to us; but the works of Jinasena-Gunabhadra and Hemacandra in Sanskrit, those of Silācārya and Bhadresvara in Prakrit, of Puspadanta in Apabhraṁśa, of Camuṇḍarāya in Kannaḍa and the Śrīpurāņa of an anonymous author in Tamila are available besides the minor compositions of Āśādhara, Hastimalla etc. On account of their cosmographical and dogmatic details, intervening stories and moral preachings, they are worthily classed among the eminent Purāṇas and held in great authority.
In the second type we have the biographies of individual Tīrthakaras and other celebrated personalities of their times. We have seen how Nirvāṇakāṇḍa offers salutations to many an eminent soul commemorated in later literature.