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76: Śramaņa, Vol 62, No. 3, July-September 2011 literature are Njjuti Bhāşya, genre of and Atthakathā respectively sīkā is another term for commentarial literature of the type of gloss prevalent commonly among them. Cūrņi, a term used for a special type of this literature is peculiar to the Jainas alone. Vịtti is again a term common to both, the Brāhmaṇic and Jaina traditions, used for exegetical literature of a special nature. Bhāşya literature is available in large quantity in the Jaina tradition as well. The Atthakathā is the most popular and standard term used for exegetical literature in Pali. Besides it, the term used for such literature are Vibhanga (descriptive exposition), Niddesa (exposition), Veyyākaraña (explanation), Vaņņana (description), Attavaņñana (description of meaning), Atthasamvaņnana (description of meaning fully), Ţīkā (gloss), Anuțīkā (sub gloss) etc. Exegetical Literature of the Jainas
So far as the evolution of the exegetical literature on the Jaina canons is concerned, Prof. Kapadia? seems to have surmised as underaccording to the Jaina tradition, the Gañadharas compose dvādaśāngis, and each of them teaches his own dvādaśāngī to his pupils. Consequently, while doing so, each must be offering some explanation or other, at least regarding knotty points. But, strange to say, there seems to be no record maintained regarding thes explanations of the dvādaśāngīs. This state of affair exists not only in connection with the dvādaśāngis composed prior to the birth of Lord Mahavira, but also in the case of the eleven dvādaśāngis composed by his own eleven Gañadharas. He, further remarks “A student conversant with the Jaina system of education knows it fully well that first of all, the meaning (attha) of a sutta is explained, then is given an explanation associated with Nijjuttī, and this is followed by a detailed exposition which is not necessarily confined to what is explicitly expressed in the sutta.” Finally he infers “a similar process must have been followed at least by the eleven Ganadharas of Lord Mahavira. This means that several types of literature may have been then evolved."
