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XII: SĀRĀVALI PRAKĪRNAKA
convey the thought, idea or meaning. In its view the meaning is important not the words. It is this lack of emphasis on words that the agamas of the Jaina tradition could not keep their linguistic character unaltered as the Vedas have been able to do over the millennia. This is the reason that the Jaina Canonical literature got divided into two streams, namely the Arddhamāgadhi Canons and the Sauraseni Canons. Of these, the Ardhamāgadhi canonical literature is not only more ancient but also closer to the original language in which Lord Mahāvīra preached. The development of the Sauraseni canonical literature was also based on these Arddhamăgadhi canons. The Arddhamāgadhi canonical literature is, thus, the basis of the Sauraseni canonical literature and more ancient than the latter. The Arddhamāgadhi canonical literature was also compiled and edited over a period of nearly a thousand years - from the time of Lord Mahāvīra to 980 or 993 after Mahāvīra, when they were rendered in their present form in the Valabhî conclave. Therefore, it is quite possible that these were also modified, altered and enlarged by various preceptors during this period.
In the ancient times the Arddhamāgadhi canonical · literature was divided into two categories, namely the Angapravistha and the Angabāhya. The Angapravistha category included eleven Anga Agamas (Primary canons) and the Drstivāda while the Arigabāhya Agamas (Extra Primary canonical literature) include all the other canons that were considered to be the creations of Srutakevalis (Canon-omniscients who knew all about the canonical knowledge) and Pūrvadhara Sthaviras (Elder monks in the know of Pūrvas or the Pre-canons - fourteen Pūrvas were a part of the twelfth Anga Igama : Drstivāda). In Nandīstītra, these vigabāhva canons have been subdivided into īvasyaka (Essential) and ivasvakaryatirikta
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