Sectional Studies In Jainology II

Author(s): Klaus Bruhn
Publisher: Klaus Bruhn

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Sectional Studies
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pelled to mention connections of a logically simple type, but one must also consider connections which are of a complex and fundamental character and which transgress the range of 1:1 comparisons (such as the comparison between the Brahmanical and the Jaina version of a story or the Brahmanical and the Jaina meaning of a term). The fundamental connections are normally not described in standard books and articles, but they emerge on the basis of more extensive research activities. We mention three such cases, all different in character and here designated as projects i-iii. We have to add that the expressions "relationship" and "connection" are a simplification in so far as we are concerned with all kinds of connection or correspondence or contrast.
We shall start with V. PROPP's work, which presents, in contrast to projects ii and iii infra, a real theory. This theory has been analysed by scholars from different fields (A. DUNDES et alii), and it has also been adapted to the study of Indian narrative literature (STEERMANN Pa, PFEIFFER We). The study by M. PFEIFFER does not make use of the "functions" as contained in PROPP's sequence, but rather proposes an analogous scheme developed for the study of Indian cosmogonies. This scheme is, naturally, in no way connected with Jaina narrative literature. However, we have to ask whether it has some general relevance for the principle of sectional studies. PFEIFFER's study is not confined to any single tradition (Veda etc.), but rather includes all traditions of the Indian subcontinent (Sanskritic or not, literary or oral). Even then, this material, which is limited to one major motif (cosmogonies), presents a cosmos in its own right with advantages which seem to be similar to the advantages of a frame subject. With a methodological vocabulary (classifications etc.) which is highly developed, PFEIFFER's study is bound to exercise considerable influence, generally speaking, on the study of Indian narrative literature.
For a more informal use of PROPP in the study of Indian narrative literature, we suggest a selective procedure. We can isolate individual functions (e.g. transfer of the hero to a distant locality) or short sequences of PROPP's functions (e.g. XII-XIV: "donor" etc.). Occasionally a clear parallel to PROPP's sequence may surface (PFEIFFER Ka). It is also possible to establish, now and then, new sequences of minimal complexity which have an analogy to that of PROPP. From Jaina literature we mention only donation stories (BALBIR Mi: 147-49) and temptation stories (VERCLAS Av: 117-39). Generally speaking, the distinction between etic and emic (DUNDES Et, PFEIFFER We) will become an indispensable instrument for the analysis of our stories. Jaina literature also uses various forms of narrative repetition (BRUHN Ca: 134-35; BRUHN Re). An improved analysis of all the relevant texts can probably be achieved with the help of the work of PROPP.
The second project to be introduced is the recent discussion on karma (mainly O'FLAHERTY Ka). As in the previous and the following case, the emergence of new conceptual instruments stands out as a basic characteristic of the discussion. For our
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K. Bruhn
purposes, we only mention an article published later than the O'FLAHERTY volume by Y. KRISHAN, which distinguishes between two lines of thought. In one case, a balancing of karma (good karma versus bad karma, or karma type-A versus karma typeB) is possible, while in the other case, such a balancing is not possible, with the gunasthāna doctrine of the Jainas as an instance of the second type (KRISHAN Ba: 123). This doctrine may have more than one aspect, but one aspect is, in any case, the suc cessive elimination of the different types of karma according to a rigid time table (e.g. GLASENAPP Ka: 88-104).
One publication by K. BUTZENBERGER (the third project) is also concerned with the karma issue, but discusses the karma concept in the context of an extensive analysis of the problem of lasting identity (rebirth or no rebirth: in the case of rebirth, analysis of the substratum of identity) and the problem of causality (effect of the action on the actor). The scope of BUTZENBERGER's monograph is considerable, since the two problems are fundamental in all periods and also in many different spheres of Indian thought. In order to demonstrate the importance of this monograph for Jaina studies (in this case the natural philosophy of Jainism), we shall underline one single aspect, namely the rigorous distinction between the invariable jiva and the variable psychic/physical conglomeration (i.e. the senses and the body which are the results of the karma). The emphasis on this distinction throws new light on a number of problems. The four elements (water etc.) of Jainism are no longer living as such as implied by statements in some modern descriptions - but are basically dead matter, merely "enlivened" by the jiva. What remains, after the jiva has left his temporary abode, is again dead matter, forming part of the physical world. BUTZENBERGER also considers the character of the bodies of the element jivas (minimal agglomerations of matter), the mechanism of karmic influx (influx of matter into the jiva), and, by implication, the mechanism of karmic emission or "annihilation of karma".
II A
In each of our three subsectional lists we have included a position termed «structural phenomena and further peculiarities»: 1.8, 2.8, and 3.13. This position (abbreviated as «<SP>) has not been annotated in § 3. A collective treatment under a comprehensive title such as SP seemed the simplest way of organizing and collecting a large number of facts which would otherwise find no well-defined place within Indology.
That the SP have so far not been viewed as a peculiar factor in Indian thought has more than one reason. First of all they are treated either as peculiarities of certain sub-areas of the Indian history of ideas or as "typically Indian" in a very general way. Both attitudes do not encourage a systematic study on a large scale. At the same time, Jainism occupies in connection with SP issue a special position. Jaina literature is a