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90: Śramana, Vol 61, No. 3 July-September 10
raise is that of their sequence, and, more widely, the question of the coherence of the text they form. In the case of the Uvaesamālā, this was noted by Tessitori, who, after giving a synopsis of the text,
wrote:
"Come si vede, l'opera manca nel suo insieme di un ordinamento sistematico e i vari argomenti sono spesso trattati l'uno dopo dell'altro senza alcun nesso logico fra di loro12."
Let us discuss this observation. There is indeed a certain amount of coherence, but it is mostly apparent within small groups of verses which may be connected together through the device of concatenation: a significant technical term say, for instance, Prakrit maya (Sanskrit mada), "pride"- recurs from vs. 330 to 333, which can thus be isolated as forming a mini-section endowed with thematic unity. We can also find instances where the sequence between several groups appears to be justified because it is in agreement with the dogmatic background: the fact that verses dealing with the study of sacred scriptures are followed with verses extolling the practice of modesty, followed in turn by verses about fasting13, is no wonder since, according to the Jains, these three concepts traditionally form different subdivisions of the wide notion of "asceticism". On the other hand, the placing of a group of stanzas listing the qualities of the ideal teacher and the moral duties of a disciple towards his preceptor, in the beginning of the work14 is not peculiar to the Uvaesamālā. On the contrary, it appears to have been usual, because the conception was prevalent that a sacred text cannot be put in all hands and that it cannot be fully understood and put to practice by monks who would not be morally prepared for it by the possession of certain qualities and of right behaviour. Yet, on the whole, there are several cases where the place ascribed to a given topic is difficult to understand and where the interconnection seems to be rather loose. The distinctive feature of the literary form called "Upadeśa" (teachings) as used by the Jains, to which I now turn, is the close intertwining of abstract teachings and examples, with reference to illustrious
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