Studies in Jain Literature

Author(s): V M Kulkarni
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre

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Jain faith'. The Kautiliya-Arthaśästra (I. 5) in its definition of Itihasa enumerates 'Purana' and 'Itivṛtta' as belonging to the content of Itihasa. As Itivṛtta can only mean a 'historical event', Purana probably means 'mythological and legendary lore'.
STUDIES IN JAIN LITERATURE
3. THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF JAIN MYTHOLOGY
It is believed that Jainism is comparatively of a later origin. Jain works speak of 24 Tirthakaras. A majority of eminent scholars, however, accept that Mahavira and Pārsvanatha (and Neminatha too, according to a few,) were historical personages and they consider the rest of the Tirthakaras to be mythical figures. Jainism received great impetus under Mahavira's religious leadership. A few centuries after the Nirvana of Mahāvīra, the Jains felt the necessity of having their own mythology which would provide an excellent means for reaching popular thought and propagating their own views, ideals and doctrines. To meet the requirement the religious teachers and masters of Jainism invented myths, accepted popular legends with necessary modifications and borrowed the most. popular stories from the Hindu Mythology-adapting them so as to make them suitable vehicles to convey the truths of their own religion, philosophy and ethics. Jain Mythology centres in the personalities of sixty three great figures. The material for their lives is found partly in the Kalpa-sutra and, in its basic elements, in the Tiloyapannatti and Avaśyakabhäṣya. These lives have assumed a definite pattern, though the extent of details and poetic descriptions etc., differ from author to author. The names of all the Tirthakaras are handed down with a multitude of details. "Yet the minutiae are precisely the same for each with changes of name and place, and with variation as to the details of complexion. and stature, as well as the designations of the attendant spirits, who are a Yakṣa and a Yakṣini, of the ganadhara (leader of disciples), and of the Arya (first) woman convert)." A minor alteration here and there is remarkable: thus the 20th Tirthakara, Muni Suvrata and twenty-second, Aristanemi3 are said to have been of the Harivamsa, and not like all the others, of the Ikṣvāku family; such alterations we find in a few cases regarding the place where some Tirthakaras attained Mokṣa or perfect knowledge or the posture at the time of final release. But for the most part the Jain narratives include precisely the same miracles in regard to the birth and other events in the lives of the Tirthakaras.
The Jain tradition traces the origin of the Puränas to Lord Mahavira himself and provides a succession of teachers through who they were handed. down, some of whom cannot be said to be historical personages. The traditions. as recorded in the different Puranas of the Svetämbaras and the Digambaras