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APPENDIX 2:JAIN SCRIPTURES
It is believed that the sermons of a Tirthankara take the form of what is known as the divine language/ sound. (According to Digambaras, this sound transmits the intrinsic meaning of the teaching which is then translated into the scriptures by several chief disciples, "gañadharas”, whereas according to Sveta mbara, the tirthankara speaks in a divine human language). In general, the role of the gañadharas was of translators/editors. Thus, one should not take the scripture literally, but keep in the forefront the idea of selfanalysis and synthesis.
A.2.1 MAIN SCRIPTURES
In all there are 60 Jain scriptures (Āgamas) which are classified into three parts:Part I: Pūrva; Part II: Anga; Part III: Angabāhya. Out of these 60 texts, only 45 are still in existence. Table A.2.1 gives a skeleton of these texts with some details, whereas Table A.2.2 gives details for the sub-parts of Part III: Part Illa, ..., Part Ille. Gautama, Mahavira's chief disciple, (see Appendix 1) has been the main contributor to the main twelve scriptures (Angas) but the tradition of oral transmission was carried on for a long time.
The writing up of the canon with commentaries really began around 450 A.D. at the instigation of a council which was held in Valabhi. Bhadrabāhu (fifth century) and Jinabhadra (sixth century) are two famous commentators.
Some of the important texts in the scriptures are as follows.
Table A.2.1. Main Scriptures of Jains.
Number of texts
Total
I Pūrva
(old texts)
II Angas (main texts)
MI Angabāhya* (Subsidiary
texts)
60
Total Available Svetambara Stha na kvasi Digambara
12 First 11 Same first 11
0
34 21+
32+
0
*See Table A.2.2.
