Book Title: Sacred Literature of Jains
Author(s): Ganeshchandra Lalwani, Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Jain Bhawan

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 128
________________ 120 SACRED LITERATURE OF THE JAINS elaborated into an investigation by Dr. Leumann has shewn that one of the Pali texts of the Buddhistic Tipițaka viz, the Pāyasi-suttam (Dighanikāya 1,22),- is especially closely connected [384] with that part of our upanga which treats of king Paesi. It is apparent, then, that we must assume either a common foundation for both or the use of a special Buddhistic work as a ground-work. That the original text of the Rayapaseņaiyyam might easily have suffered a transformation, is indicated by the irreconcilability of this title with the Sanskrit translation and with the contents. Thus the old name Prasenajit gave place to that of our text Paesi (Payāsi in Pali). It is noteworthy that at the conclusion of the work there is an exclamation of reverence addressed to the Jinas, to the suyadevayā (śruta) bhagavai, to the pannatti bhagavai, and to the bhagavat arahat Pāsa. Joined to this exclamation are some very corrupt words, which are perhaps to be restored as follows, 695 Passasuyassa vānie. It is at least certain that Påsa, and not Mabăvira, is glorified in this paragraph. Could this not be a residuum of the original text, which had a right to the title rāya paseņaiyya and which perhaps treated of the relations of King Prasenajit and Påsa ? Pasa, it should be noticed, appears as a teacher in up. 10, 11. The seer glorified in our present text is at least called Pasāvacciyya, i, e, scholar of Pāsa ; and appears in a recital put in the mouth of Mahāvira as the teacher of king Paesi. In the other legends, in which [385] any such Pasāvacciyyas occur, they are invariably characterized as converts to the teachers of Mahavira. See above p. 300. Malayagiri attempts to find this reference to the Påsavacciyyas a special proof of the connection of upānga 2 with anga 2, which, he maintains, treats of the views of the foreign pasaņdas. We were for some time left in doubt whether the references in the angas to the Rayapaseņaiyyam were in reality all contained in the Rayapaseņaiyyam (cf. Jacobi Kalpas. p. 107); but Leumann has shown that this doubt is without foundation. See above, p. 299. But, granted the actual occurrence of all these citations, this fact only makes for the conclusion, that, at the period of these remarks by the redactor, the substitution, which I assume, was already a fait accompli. Nor does this exclude the assumption that our text originally possessed a content that was really in harmony with its title. 695 ( namo bhagavao) arahao, Pasassa. passe supasse, passavāni namo e A, arahanto passe supasse passavante namo E, arahanto passe supassa vārie namo E, arahanto passe suyassa vänie namo G.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250