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SACRED LITERATURE OF THE JAINS
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dition of the MS. it is worth while to note the statements of the three såmacaris in reference to the mahan. Āvi treats of this subject (see pp. 447,448) in discussing the cheaggantha, and states that there were 8 ajjh. with 83 uddesas. The first ajjhayanam had then no divisions of this kind and was egasraram ; the second had 9, the third and fourth 16 each, the fifth 12, the sixth 4, the seventh 6, the eighth 20. The difference between this account and the information to be drawn from the MS. is very great indeed. (See above) Svi. and V., on the other hand (see p. 448), separate the mahānisiham from the other cheda texts, and treat, at the conclusion, of the jogavihi of the sacred texts after the painnagavihi. [460] They too agree with Āvi, as regards the number of ajjh. and udd. The seventh and eighth ajjh. are expressly called by V. cūlárūva (donni cūlão, v. 64). Forty-three days are necessary to learn the mahān., teyālisäe dişehim ajjhayanasamatti, but as two days are requisite for suyakkhardhassa samuddesa and for anunņā, the total number is 45. The chedas 1,3-5 required together only 30 days. See page 448.
A statement in Wilson Sel. W. 1,341 (ed. Rost) is of particular interest :"Vajrasvāmi885 instituted the Mahānisitha-sect"; and of equal interest are the remarks of Rajendra Lal Mitra (p. 227) in reference to three different recensions (vācana) of the Mahāniśitha. The question which is proposed in the introduction of chapter 22 of the Vicărāmrta. samgraha substantiates the belief that the Mahānisitha is tolerably old. This question is :---how is it to be explained that the prayascitta prescribed in the Mahāniśitha is not practised ? The answer to this includes chedas 1,3,5 and reads :-adhună mandasattvaiḥ kalpavyavahāranistthamahānisithādinām · ekatarasyā 'pi gramthasya'bhiprayena pråyaścittăni yatha caddodhaṁ (? 'vasodhur) na śakyamte atas te sarvagacchesu jttavyavahāreņa prāyaścittam(y) anucharaṁto drśyrte.
The first mention of the mahānisiham, of which I am aware, is found in the enumeration of the anangapavittha texts in the Nandi etc., where the schol. on N. explains the word as follows :nisithāt paraṁ, yat graṁtharthābhyaṁ mahattarar tam mahāniśithaṁ. (461] We have already mentioned (p. 445) that the gacchāyāra states that it is based upon the mahān, as its source.
The introductory words are the same as in anga 1 etc. : suyam me āusaṁ, tenaṁ bhagavaya evam akkhāyam, and each of the ajjh, closes
835 Nominally 584 Vira: see pp. 219, 251, cf. Avasy 8, 41 fg. Ganadharasārdhas, v. 23
fg. In reference to the statement above, cf. pp. 463n and 464.
