Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 634

Sec. 1] STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SŪTRA
609 revitalizes the individual, social, national and international life, shapes and reshapes, adjusts and readjusts, transforms and retransforms the human society to a considerable extent by conveying the message of its knowledge and truth preserved in it with great care.
From this angle of vision on literature the Bhs testifies sufficiently to the linguistic and literary development of its age and its value to mankind by conveying various aspects of Jaina Philosophy and History in the form of conversation between Lord Mahāvīra and his disciples.
The Bhs touches upon different phases of life and Nature, beings and non-beings and their evolution, more particularly human life and society and their progress in all conditions from the time of birth up to that of death, covering the four stages of life and the world past, the world present and the world beyond. It reveals the underlying fundamental principles governing the forces of life and Nature, the evolution of beings and the states of non-beings, the development of man and the society in the cosmic process of the Universe.
Besides these literary contributions, the Bhs throws light upon the political, social and economic conditions, education, science and arts, religious evolution - various leaders of thought and their systems, particularly Ajīvikism and the history of its period, cosmology, cosmography, geography and Jaina Philosophy and History within its purview as they are revealed in course of the holy teachings of the Master, imparted to his disciples in a brilliant manner in the form of questions and answers. Thus it fulfils the very mission of a true literature.
In regard to the language and style of the Bhs it may be said with reservation that they represent an age different from the present, in which all monastic orders and religious teachers used to impart the holy teachings to the people in general and their followers in particular to make them intelligible in the
1 Vide, Ch. II, Sec. 3 & 4, 77