Schools and Sects in Jaina Literature

Author(s): Amulyachandra Sen
Publisher: Vishwa Bharati Calcutta

Page 10

INTRODUCTION
The canonical literature of the Svetambara Jainas contains many references to various philosophical schools and religious sects apparently contemporanicous with itself. Although the canon in the form we have it now is a creation of the Council of Valabhi held in circa 454 A.C. under the presidentship of Devardhiganin, yet the matter contained in it is much older. This Council reduced the text to writing. The first collection was, however, made by the Council of Pāțaliputra which, according to Hemacandra, met during the reign of Aśoka Maurya. Additions were made no doubt during the subsequent redactions, but the essentials remained unchanged through the long years of canonical revision which brought with it accretions of extraneous matter. The statements which form the subject matter of discussion in the following pages picture a state of things much earlier than Devardhiganin's age and earlier even than the Council of Pătaliputra.
The beliefs and practices discussed in the Jaina texts were considered hicretical from the point of view of the Jainas or the Nirgranthas, as they were called in the earlier days, and as such it was necessary for them to state and criticise the views aud practices of many of those schools and sccts. An attempt has been made in the following pages to give a comprehensive account of all these sects and schools. Some works outside the Jaina cation have also been sometimes referred to for the purpose of illustrating the matter contained in the canon. References in the later works of Svetānibaras and Diganibaras to systems of thought adverse to them have been rejected for the simple reason that they deal with circumstances of later ages influenced by conditions of later times when such works were coniposed. In many cases parallel references and accounts have been mentioned from the literature of the Buddhists, as they and the Jainas having started their career about the same time the former are likely to furnish reliable evidence on matters referred to by the latter, both being outside the Brahmanical fold and having a strong critical outlook.
That the time the Jaina canon treats of was one bristling with conflicting views and rival schemes may easily be gathered from such statements as "Sce, there are men who control themselves, whilst others