Sacred Literature of Jains

Author(s): Ganeshchandra Lalwani, Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Jain Bhawan

Page 16

SACRED LITERATURE OF THE JAINS
up of the Pali texts, the redactor of the Jaina texts adapted to the requirements of his own age the Màgadhi language, in which, it is probable to suppose, they were originally composed (cf. in anga 5, 2, 1, ihe salutation Māgahā ! see Bhag. 2,250) and in which they had been in all likelihood allowed to remain by the council of Pataliputra. The character of the language of the redactor of the Jaina texts is incomparably younger than Pāli,'4 and consequently its official Dame addhaMāgahā bhāsā (in up. I, 4, and elsewhere) 25 or ardha-Māgadhi (with the Jain grammarians) bears traces of this late date. In fact, of the Māgadbi only a few remnants, especially the Nom. sing. Masc. of the 1 Decl. in e, have been retained, while even these disappear gradually in the course of time. In general the language may be characterized as a very much younger sister of Pāli. The reason for this fact must probably be sought in local influence, whether it be Valabhi or Mathurā, where the written codification was made; at least such is a safe assumption. To the dialect of either Valabhi or Mathurā these ancient texts, composed originally in Măgadhi, had to accommodate themselves.
The Council of Pāțaliputra, it is supposed, [222] limited its functions to the collection of the angas; the written codification of Devarddhigaņi, it is claimed, embraced the entite śrisiddhānta, āgama26 the sarvan granthān of this Āgama. See Jacobi, 1.c.p. 115-117. What position have we here to assume ? In anga 3, 4, 1 we find angabāhiriya texts expressly recognised as different from the angas, and as pannattiu of this kind the names of upāngas 5-7 are mentioned, together with a fourth name, which is that of a section in upanga 3. In anga 3, 10 ten dasā texts, each comprising 10 ajjhayaņas, are enumerated of which we possess only four, as angas 7-10, and a fifth, as chedasūtra 4. In anga 4 there are mentioned, besides the 11 (or 12) angas, the names of the 36 sections of the first mülasūtra, and three other texts, which are no longer extant; the last occur only in a statement in reference to the number of their ajjhayaņas. A real enumeration of those texts, which besides the angas belong to the suam (śrutam) is not found in the angas,
24 cf. Bhagav. 1, 392-7 Vorlesungen über Indische Lit., Gesch. 2. p. 316. 25 se kim tam bhāsāriva? je naħ addha-Māgahāe bhäsāe bhāsamti jatthayanan bambhi,
livī pavattai.-Also according to upanga 1, 56 (see Leumann, Aupapat, p. 6) Mahavira himself already preached in Ardha-Magadhi.-Accordingly we read in the quotation given by Hemacandra IV. 287 : porānam addhamāgahabhāsāni ayam havai suttam; cf. Pischel's note on this passage in his translation, p. 169. The
ordinary term for that idiom with Hemacandra is arşam. 26 Other synonyms are śruta, sutra, grantha, śāsana, ajña, vacana upadeśa, prajna
pana Such is the enumeration in the Anuyogady. (but in Prākệt).