Sacred Literature of Jains

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

Page 29

SACRED LITERATURE OF THE JAINS
stic of the Jains, and which according to Buddhistic statements, was resolutely opposed by Buddha, assumes an unimportant position in the angas and at least is not regarded as a matter of necessity, see Bhag. 2,187,239,314. Later the necessity of appearing naked was introduced as a dogma by a sect of dissenters. If we take into considerations the hate which the Svetāmbaras, who played the role of the orthodox sect, manifested so vigorously against the Digambaras in particular49 (Kup. 797 7), it is no rash conjecture to assume that many prescriptions or traditions in regard to this point have been removed from the Siddhānta of the Svetämbaras. Even the orthodox do not deny that the Jinas themselves went naked;50 they assert merely that, what was permissible then is no longer permissible at the present day.
At the head of [242] the Siddhānta stand then :
a. The (11 or 12) angas.
We have seen above on page 211 ff. that, according to tradition, at the time of the first Jina all 12 angas were extant ; that then between Jinas 2-9 there existed only eleven, i. e., all except anga 12 ; that between, Jinas 9-16, those eleven also were lost, whereas in the time of, or between, Jinas 16-24, all twelve were extant, and that the 12th afterwards was again51 lost. If we exclude the mythical first Jina from our consideration, the essence of this tradition is perhaps this : the number of the angas was at first eleven, to these a twelfth was joined, which twelfth anga was again lost. This assumption corresponds to the conclusions to be derived from the Siddhānta itself. In the angas themselves and in the upāngas too,52 only eleven angas are as a rule mentioned. The principal exception to this assertion is the fourth anga where at the very outset we find a short enumeration (which can easily be shown to be of secondary addition) of the single parts of the duvālasamgaṁ gaṇi pidagaṁ ; alike in $$18,46,88, some declarations in referance to anga 12 ; and finally at the end a detailed exposition of this subject, in wbich the duvālasaṁgaṁ gaṇipidagam is glorified as hav
49 deśavisamvadino dravyalingenā 'bhedino nihna vāh, Borikäs tu sarvavisamvādino
dravyalingato 'pi bhinnäh, according to the Vicārāmyta-sangraha in Malayagiri's
Comm. to Avasy. ; cf. Jacobi, Kalpas. p. 15n. 50 See Wilson Sel. W.J, 294 ed. Rost in reference to the nakedness of Mahavira : cf.
also the characterization of his doctrine in anga 3, 9 fin. as acelae. 51 Accord. to Bhagav. 20, 8, anga 12 was lost savvat tha, i.e. in all 23 jinamtaras, as
Leumann informs me. 52 But see up, 1.26 (p. 36, Leumann).