Some Jaina Canonical Sutras

Author(s): Bimla Charn Law
Publisher: Royal Asiatic Society

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SAMAVAYANGA (SAMAVAYAMGA)
sārī before introducing the later local varieties of the Brāhmi and a few numerical and notational symbols. The Jaina sutra altogether ignores the Kharosthi alphabet. The only parent script mentioned is the Bambhi (Brahmi). The Yavanalipi finds mention for the first time in Katyāyana's Vārttika to Panini's Grammar. The anka, ganita and gandharvalipis are all mathematical and musical notations. The Adursa, Maheśvara, Dami and Bolidi cannot be identified. The same remark holds true in the case of the remaining names. The chief interest of the study of the sutra centres round the information supplied regarding the contents of the fourteen purvus and the twelfth unga known as the Dṛṣṭivāda. It is suggested that the twelfth anga was the direct outcome of the fourteen purvas. The connection shown between the two is too ingenious to carry conviction. The purvas were the ancient traditions the number of which grew up gradually from eight to fourteen and the Jain tradition also speaks of the process of their gradual disappearance. So far as the twelfth anga is concerned, its subject-matters seem to be appropriately termed pravādas meaning discussions or disputations. They are enumerated as follows: (1) ut pada--setting forth the origination of all substances and their circumstantial changes, (2) agraniyam-describing the extent of the different types of souls among the substances and their transformations, (3) rīrya-enlightening us on the active energies of the ajīvas and the jīvas, (4) asti-nāsti-expounding what truly exists and what is not or judging the nature of reality from different standpoints in accordance with the Jain doctrine of syādrāda, (5) ñāna-defining the five kinds of knowledge, (6) satya-setting forth the nature of truth, self-control, truthfulness along with their opposites, (7) ātmā-discussing the nature of self (soul) in different ways according to Jaina modes or methods (nayas), (8) karmadealing with the classification of karma and defining the kinds of karma, (9) pratyākhyāna-dealing with the subject of pratyākhyāna, (10) Vidya-dealing with the subject of learning, (11) abandhya-dealing with the subject of fruitfulness, (12) prāṇāyuḥ dealing with the spans of life of living beings, (13) kriyavisala-dealing with the prescriptions regarding different religious practices, and (14) lokavindusāra-dealing with the art of language.
In this as well as in other Jaina canonical sutras Baladeva and Vasudeva and their families are accorded a very prominent place. The Pali Mahāniddesa distinctly bears evidence to the existence of the two groups of devotees, namely, those
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