Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

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

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Sec. IV] STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SÜTRA by its action working upon their conscious minds. It may be both personal and impersonal. According to the different subject matters in writing the style of an author changes; it is descriptive when he tells something and describes a person or a thing; it is explanatory when he explains something or interpiets the underlying causes of the occurrence of a thing or an event or studies and examines some subject or persuades one to think in the light of his own thought; and it is emotive when he rouses emotions in his readers' minds and makes them happy or sorrowful or angry, etc. It is this style of a work which evokes a corresponding mood in the readers' minds by presenting its contents and treating of its subject-maiter in a clear and concise manner.
The Vedic literature begins with the metre of poetry in composing its verses, revealing prayers and hymns addressed to the powers of Nature deified thus:
"Risen in magestic blaze Lo! the universe's eye Vast and wondrous host of rays
Shineth brightly in the sky." etc.? The BhS as one of the Angas of the Agamic literature originates with prose containing thoughts and activities of various religious teachers. It is not the classical Sankrit prose, exhibiting its rich style, but it is the prose to convey the thoughts and ideas of the religious leaders through the language of the people among whom they moved. So the style of this canonical work is the style of the people, which distinguishes itself from that of the Vedic literature. Here the purpose is to teach religion to the general mass in a natural style but not in an artificial one of the Vedic verses where one is to memorize hymns of prayers.
The style of the Bhs used by its author in presentation of its different contents and in dealing with its subject-matter is of varied character, as it appears from its massiveness and
1 Hymns of the Rgveda, p. 12, Vide translation by C, Manning.