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Jaina Canonical Literature
: 193
secondary canonical works only Prajñāpanā's authorship is known. About the authorship of other works, we are still in dark. The fifth one is Jambūdvīpaprajñapti, mainly dealing with Jaina Geography in addition to the life history of Rşabhadeva. The subject matter of next two works, Sūryaprajñapti and Candraprajñapti are related with Jaina cosmology in general and Jaina astronomy in particular. Scholars date these works c. 2nd-1" B.C. Other five works of this bunch are very short and rather of less important.
Besides Anga & Upānga canonical literature, Candravedhyaka, Tandulavaicārika, Āturapratyākhyāna, Mahāpratyākhyāna, Maranavibhakti mainly concerned with the Jaina Sadhanā, are known as Prakirakas, in general and Samadhimarana in particular. All these works are, undoubtedly earlier to the c. 4th-514 A.D.
Among the non-canonical works of this period, very few in number are extant, namely Tattvārtha-sūtra and its auto-commentary (c. 3rd 4th A.D.), Paumacariya of Vimalasūri (c. 2nd-guh A.D.) and Digambara works composed in Sauraseni Prakrit like Kasāyapāhuda of Gunadhara (c. 4th A.D.) and Șatkhandāgama of Puspadanta Bhūtabali (about c. 5th A.D.). Apart from these, the works of Kundakunda, Samantabhadra and Siddhasena Divākara may also be considered as the works of early period. Scholars differ on the exact date of composition of these works, except that of Tattvārtha-sūtra. They date these works in between c. 2nd - 5th A.D.
Niryuktis ate the first among the non-canonical literature. Ten in number, they are of great importance. These Niryuktis mainly explain the meaning of Jaina technical terms from the various standpoints along with the brief account of the subject matter of that particular Āgama. Scholars widely differ about the time and authorship of Niryuktis except that of Govindaniryukti. Some are of the opinion that these Niryuktis are composed by Bhadrabāhu-I (c. 314 B.C.) while others consider these to be composed by Bhadrabāhu-II, the brother of Varāhamihira (c. 6th A.D.). But in my humble opinion, as
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