Narrative Tale in Jain Literature

Author(s): Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Asiatic Society

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NARRATIVE TALE IN JAIN LITERATURE
"At the beginning of his homily, a preaching Jain monk usually gives, in a few prose words or verses, the topic of his sermon (Dharmadeśanā), and then goes on to tell an interesting tale of more or less considerable extent, with many romantic incidents, and in most cases with several intercalated stories. Towards the end of his story, he introduces a kevalin, i.e. an omniscient Jain monk, who comes to a grove belonging to the town in which the persons of his story are dwelling at its end. After hearing the sermon of this monk, these persons ask him, why all the vicissitudes, which they had to pass through during their adventures, fell to their lot. The Kevalin, then, explains to them all the happy as well as the unhappy incidents by relating the story of their previous existence.
"The literary form of these Jain sermons resembles that of the Buddhist Jätaka; but it is highly superior to it. A Jātaka begins with a story which, in most cases, is quite insignificant. Such and such a thing has occurred to such and such a monk. The Buddha arrives. The other monks question him about the present case, and the Buddha explains it by narrating the story of the respective monk's previous existence. This story of the past is the main story of the Jātaka (whereas in the Jain sermons it forms only the conclusion); the Bodhisatta, or future Buddha, himself plays a rôle in it, and this rôle, of course, must be worthy of him; the whole story, moreover, must be an edifying one. The Jātakas, as far as they are interesting, are no inventions of the Bauddhas; they are taken from the huge store of tales spread all over India. Most of these popular tales are ingenious, or funny, or interesting in some other respect, but they are not edifying. Hence the Bauddha monks, whose Jātakas must be edifying and must contain a rôle worthy of the Bodhisatta, are forced to alter the popular stories they use for this purposes, and the lamentable consequence generally is that such a Jātaka becomes a rather dull story, from which all the wit of its original has disappeared; and its development is often contrary to all psychological probability. The Bauddhas impart their doctrines directly, showing, by the Bodhisatta's example, how a creature should act in accordance with the Bauddha notions of morals; and if