Prolegomena to Prakritica et Jainica

Author(s): Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Asiatic Society

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PROLEGOMENA TO PRAKRITICA et JAINICA
the author did not pursue those researches he had characterized as "indispensible for the exploration of the Jain literature of several centuries”, pointing out that the Kathās in the old commentaries often appear in nonJinistic works. Still we possess his "ĀvaśyakaErzählungen” (AKM lo, 2; 1897) which after the most subtle examination of the best manuscripts give the pure text of those old moral illustrations. It is a point of regret that no more than but four forms of that work should have been printed and that a continuation, though promised, should never have seen the light of the day. It was younger recensions of Jain stories that were translated and explored as to their motives and their importance for comparative history of literature by Hertel and others. In his essay "On the Literature of the Shvetambaras of Gujarat” (1922) we find the following remarkable passage: “During the middle-ages down to our own days the Jains and especially the Svetāmbaras of Gujrat, were the principal story-tellers of India. Their literature contains, in huge masses, the materials which the students of folklore, who wish to do true scientific work, should thoroughly study in preference to all the other Indian narrative literature." But Hertel did not leave any doubt that in his opinion not even the preliminary condition, i.e. of critical texts and precise translations was fulfilled. As to his intrinsic studies of the Kathānakas for which he succeeded to produce parallels even from non-Indian sources, the reader is referred to Winternitz' History of Indian Literature Vol. 2.
Jain Sanskrit in the Stories, according to Hertel, is a common people's language with its usual carelessness and some borrowings from Prakrit or from the author's provincial tongue; it must not be measured by the standard of classical Bhārati. This definition serves to weaken a severe judgment pronounced by Bühler (loc. cit. p. 14). At other places in scholarly literature, too, peculiarities of Jain Sanskrit have been noted down. Bloomfield in the