Sambodhi 1972 Vol 01

Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 16

14
K K Dixit
contains (besides prose) Anustubh, Trişlubh, Jagan, old Arya, the Sutakṛtanga Srutaskandha contains Anustubh, old Valtaliya, Vautaliya, old Arya, Dasav 1 kalika and Uttaradhyayani mostly contain Anustubh (and rarely old Vartal and old Arya) That 18 to say, in all these texts (mostly composed in vera Arya in its later standard form 18 conspicuous by its absence It 18 in t Niryuktis which represent the earliest stratum of the commentary literatu that Arya in its later form comes to be employed rather exclusively and t tradition is continued by the subsequent versifiers
As for language, the Jaina texts exhibit an almost regular uniforml but this is because they are mostly composed in prose and so in the cour of transmission even in the older texts the archaic linguistic forms come be replaced by their standard counterparts It is only in the case of t Acaranga I Śralaskandha that we find archaic linguistic forms present prose as well as verse The Sutrakytanga I Śrutaskandha, Datararkalika at Uttaradhyayana are exclusively in verse and they contain a good number archaic linguistic forms
Lastly, a word about a bit of external evidence useful for determini the chronology of Jaina texts The Jainas are unanimous in maintaining th the twelve texts classed as Anga are the composition of Mahavira's immedia disciples The Digambaras further maintain that these texts are all lost b the Svetambaras are in possession of what they consider to be 11 of then that is, all of them minus the Drştivada A close study of these 11 ter should convince one that they are not the composition of one time, it even difficult to point out to a nucleus that was composed at one time ai later on filled up with much extraneous material to give us these texts ours That is to say, the orthodox tradition regarding the composition Jaina texts 18 a later growth and substantially unsound Under these con tions what alone remains to be done is to establish the relative chronolo of Jaina texts-Angas and the rest-on the basis of an examination of th contents and form-particularly the former On all counts the Acaranga Śrutaskandha and Sutrakṛtanga I Śrutaskandha contain the oldest mater and fairly old material is preserved also in the Dasanaikalika and Uttaradl ayana A close study of these four texts should form a good starting po for a historical evaluation of the anclent Jaina texts