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SACRED LITERATURE OF THE JAINS
93
at the period in which the existing corpus of the twelve upangas was established, -that is, at the date of the redaction of the present Siddhānta,—there were in reality 12 angas, and that the dițțhivåa conse. quently still existed or was considered as extant.
The dițhivaa or, as the case may be, the duvälasaṁgaṁ ganipidagam is frequently mentioned in the other parts of the Siddhānta, which are united to the upånga. These portions of the Siddhanta are in reality the storehouse of information about the ditthivăa or duvälasaṁgań ganipidagam. See the citations on p: 246 from Āvasy. and Anuyogady. With these may be associated the corresponding statements in chedas. 2 and Nandi, in which we find several direct citations (see below) from the puvvas; and in fact the chedas 3-5 are repeatedly called as excerpt from puvvá 9, 3, 20, which is referred back even to Bhadrabahu !
On p. 223, 224 we have seen from several old versus memoriales, the source of which is unfortunately no longer extant, that the ditthivāa at the period of the existence of these verses was highly esteemed, inasmuch as it was designed for the highest gradation of intelligence, and was held to be the object of the study of the nineteenth year. Here we must not suppress the thought that the reason for this relegation of the ditth. to a late period of study, was because it may have been considered (345] dangerous for an earlier and less mature stage of advancement. Finally, appearing as too dangerous,475 it may have been dropped altogether.
It is exceedingly peculiar that the puvvas, which are a principal part of the dițhivaa and represent a preliminary stage of the anga both according to tradition and, in all probability, to their name itself, are said to have proceeded from the mouth of the Tirthakara and to have been collected by his gañadharas before the angas. The puvvas are mentioned in angas 6 and 8 as texts independent of, or even previous to, the 11 angas, but in angas 4, &c., are represented as forming but one of the five sections of the last anga. It was to be expected that they should be partly independent texts, and partly should stand at the beginning of the entire Siddhanta
The key furnished by tradition points to the fact (cf. p. 214) that the knowledge of the dițhivaa (or of that of the puvva here
475 The same probably holds good of the other texts above mentioned, which imme
diately preceded the dirthivăa, and which are no longer extant.
