Sambodhi 1973 Vol 02

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

Page 27

Evolution of the Jaina Treatment of Ethical Problems
descending half of a round of time-cycle as in the ascending half-SO believed these Jaina scholars--there appear from time to time personages of highest spiritual merit -- called Tirthankara - who re-establish the Jaina order on a new footing; the descending half to which we belong had for its 24th and last Tuithankara Mahävira whose date was 599-527 B.C., for its 23rd Tirthankara Pārsva whose dale was 877--777 B.C. In view of these predominantly mythological beliefs of theirs it was rather easy for the classical Jaina theoreticians to suppose that good many desirable practices were possible of performance in the times of Mabāvīra and ceased to be so in due course. And retaining in memory the original Jaina scriptural texts was but an example of such practices. The notion as to what these texts are and how they caine to be composed is equally much coloured by mythological considerations. Thus it was maintained by the Digambars as well as Svetambaras-that the most fundamental Jaioa scriptural texts are the twelve Angas composed by the direct chief-disciples of Mabāvira on the basis of what they had learnt from the Master himself. As regards the identity of the extra-Angic scriptural texts there is no unanimous tradition except that there were some such texts and that they were composed by the Savaots of the early post-Mahavira era. The classical Digambara scholars came to maintain that the extra-Angic scriptural texts were as much lost to memory as were the Angas. On the other hand, the classical Svetārbara scholars treated as extra-Angic scriptural texts 12 U pangas, several Chedasūtras, Daśavaikālika, Uttarādhyayuna, Anuyogadvāra, Nandi, etc., but they too had no fixed tradition of saying that these texts and no other were to be treated as extra-Angic scriptural texts; [the current orthodox Svetāmbara practice of treating 34 particular texts as extraAngic scripture and the current Sthanakavasi practice of treatiug 21 out of these as such are very late - almost modern.].
In the background of this much information let us critically examine the views-maintained in common or differing from one another-by the classical Digambara and Svetāmbara scholars as to the origin and subsequent fate of the Jaina scriptural texts. As has been just noted, the classical Jaina scholars-Digambaras as well as svetambaras-believed that their most fundamental scriptural texts-the twelve Angas-were composed by the direct chief-disciples of Mahāvīra. Of course, these scholars did not consider Mabavira to be the founder of the Jaina church (for this Church-so they thought-being eternal did not have a founder) but only the last Tirthankara of the current descending half of the current round of time-cycle. However, for all practical purposes Mahavira was considered by them to be the founder of the Jaina church, for a Tirthankara is after all supposed to be one who re-establishes the Jaina order on a new footing. And in view of such an exalted position accorded by them to Mahavira it was but natural