Studies in Jainism

Author(s): Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta
Publisher: Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta

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STUDIES IN JAINISM
CULTURAL CONTRIBUTION
The Jains have played a very important role in the linguistic development of the country. Sanskrit has all along been the medium of sacred writings and preachings of the Brāhmaṇas and Pali that of the Buddhists. But the Jains utilized the prevailing languages of the different times at different places for their religious propaganda as well as for the preservation of knowledge. In this way, they exercised a predominant influence on the development of the Prakrit languages. They even gave a literary shape to some of the regional languages for the first time.
Mahāvira preached in the mixed dialect called ArdhaMāgadhi, in order that he might be understood by people speaking both Magadhi and Sauraseni, and his teachings were classified into twelve books called Śrutangas. These were preserved by oral tradition for some time, but were subsequently lost. An effort was made in about A.D. 454, during the tenth century after Mahavira's nirvana, to reconstruct the lost texts, and the result was the present canonical books of the Svetāmbara Jains which still preserve for us the form of the Ardha-Magadhi language. Of late, a very rich literature produced by the Jains has come to light, which preserves the form of the language as it was current prior to the evolution of the present-day regional languages, especially Hindi, Gujarati, and Marathi. This language is called Apabhramsa. It forms the link between the classical languages, Sanskrit and Prakrit, on the one hand, and the modern regional languages, on the other. The earliest literature in Kannada is of Jaina authorship, and the early Tamil literature also owes much to Jaina writers. The Jains have also produced a rich literature in Sanskrit, both narrative and philosophical, and works on grammar, prosody, lexicography, and mathematics.
The Jains have always taken their due share in the development of arts in the country. They erected stūpas, as did the Buddhists, in honour of their saints, with their accessories of stone railings, decorated gateways, stone umbrellas, elaborate carved pillars, and abundant statues. Early examples of these have been discovered at Mathura. Bundelkhand is full of Jaina images of the eleventh and