Prolegomena to Prakritica et Jainica

Author(s): Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Asiatic Society

Page 87

SCHOOLS AND SECTS IN JAIN LITERATURE
AMULYA CHANDRA SEN
The canonical literature of the Svetāmbara Jainas contains many references to various philosophical schools and religious sects apparently contemporaneous with itself. Although the canon in the form we have it now is a creation of the Council of Valabhi held in circa 454 A.C. under the presidentship of Devardhiganin, yet the matter contained in it is much older. This Council reduced the text to writing. The first collection was, however, made by the Council of Păţaliputra which, according to Hemacandra, met during the reign of Asoka Maurya. Additions were made no doubt during the subsequent redactions, but the essentials remained unchanged through the long years of canonical revision which brought with it accretions of extraneous matter. The statements which form the subject matter of discussion in the following pages picture a state of things much earlier than Devardhigaņin's age and earlier even than the Council of Pāțaliputra.
The beliefs and practices discussed in the Jaina texts viere considered heretical from the point of view of the Jainas or the Nirgranthas, as they were called in the earlier days, and as such it was necessary for them to state and criticise the views and practices of many of those schools and sects. An attempt has been made in the following pages to give a comprehensive account of all these sects and schools. Some works outside the Jaina canon have also been sometimes referred to for the purpose of illustrating the matter contained in the canon. References in the later works of Svetāmbaras and Digambaras to systems of thought adverse to them have