Samavayangasuttam

Author(s): Ashok Kumar Singh
Publisher: B L Institute of Indology

Page 19

species and also because sūtra and artha are not mutually identical. Jinabhadrało solves the difficulty by suggesting that even sūtra and artha could be considered to be synonymous with pravacana' if we view genus and its species mutually identical. Thus, Jaina literature contains a number of terms prevalent for the sacred literature of Jainas.
Relation Between Pūrva & Destivāda: The Samavāyāngsūtra deals elaborately with the sections and sub-sections of twelfth Anga canon Drstivāda. Pūrva, here is enumerated as its third of five sections, others being Parikarma, Sūtra, Anuyoga and Cālikā in respective order. The content of this twelfth Anga is also described in Sthānāngasūtra (c.3rd cent. B.C.), Nandīsūtra of Devavācaka (c. mid 5th cent. ), Tattvārthavārtika of Akalanka, Dhavalā of Virasena, Jaidhavalā of Jayasena and Angaprajñapti'l. Against the background that Drștivāda is taken to be extinct and Pūrva represented the literature prior to Mahavira era, this description becomes significant. The relation between pūrva literature and Angas in general and twelfth Anga Drstivāda, in particular has been haunting the scholars since long and last word on it has yet to come. Some considered Pūrva literature as explicitly denoting the literature prior to Mahavira while to some it formed the part of 12h Anga Destivāda. To them, the fourteen Pūrvas formed the part of twelfth Anga Drstivāda and belonged to Sudharmā. In consequence of this the six patriarchs viz. Prabhava, Sayyambhava, Yaśobhadra, Sambhūtivijaya, Bhadrabāhu and Sthūlabhadra had the epithet of śrutekvalin or caturdasapūrvi (knower of fourteen Pūrvas).
The following seven patriarchs: Mahāgiri, Suhastī to Vajra knew only ten Pūrvas. As tradition maintains that with Sthūlabhadra, the knowledge of the last four Pūrvas (11-14) ceased to exist, hence Mahāgiri etc. are called daśapūrvi. In Anuyogadvāra there is also mention of the navapūrvi, a grade lower than daśapūrvī alongwith daśapūrvī and caturdasapūrvī. From that point the knowledge of the Pūrva decreased gradually and ultimately, in the time of Devarddhigani, 980 years after Vira (463 AD); only one Pūrva remained.
On the basis of mention in the Samavāyānga etc. the content of the whole Drștivāda including the fourteen pūrvas, Drstivāda appears to be still