Treasury of Jain Tales

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

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counterparts among the lives of 63 salākā-purusas (Great Men) that is to say the 24 Tirthankaras, and their contemporaries, the 12 Cakravartins (rulers of the world) and the 27 heroes of antiquity, viz. 9 Baladevas, 9 Vasudevas and 9 Prativasudevas. The earlier Jain tradition as recorded in Samaväyängasūtra knows only 54 "excellent men" (uttamapurusa). It does not count the 9 Prativasudevas as "excellent men". The works treating of the lives of these great men are usually called 'Caritas' by the Svetämbaras while among the Digambaras they go by the name of 'Purāṇas'. Among the earliest of these Purānas is the Trisastilaksana Mahāpurāna (The great Purana of 63 Eminent or Excellent or Great Men) by Jinasena and Gunabhadra (9th century), containing the lives of all the 63 men. It consists of the Adipurana (dealing with the life of Rsabha, the first Tirthankara, and of the first Cakravartin) and of the Uttarapurana (describing the lives of all the remaining Great Men). The work in addition gives a "history of the world" and presents at the same time an encyclopaedia of all that is edifying to the pious Jain and that is worthy of his knowledge. Thus it describes, for instance, the samskaras (which accompany the individual from his conception to his death), the interpretation of dreams, town-planning, the duties of the warrior and the art of governing (niti). One of the favourite stories in the Uttarapurāna is that of Jivandhara, which has also been treated several times by later poets both in Sanskrit and in Tamil.
Some of the caritas by the Svetambara poets describe the lives of individual Jinas while some others treat of the lives of all the 63 Šalākā-purus as together. The Cauppannamahā-purisacariya of Silanka, mentioned above, relates the life-stories of 54 great men and the 9 Prativasudevas together in one volume.
Another important work of this type is the Trisastisalakapurusa-carita by the celebrated Jain Acarya Hemacandra (latter half of the 12th century A.D.). It consists of ten parvans in simple and unaffected Sanskrit. Hemacandra himself describes the work as a mahākāvya. The main purpose of the work is, however,