________________
86
The Unknown Pilgrims
- certain commentaries on Scripture:47 - some classical writings of the ācāryas; - further classical writings and other writings in local languages; - brief intimations contained in the manuscripts; - epigraphy; - sculpture; - iconography; these four last-named sources belong to various epochs and several different areas.
Outline of Part I
It is divided into three chapters:
Chapter 1: deals with an indeterminate period, knowledge of which is based on oral tradition that later on was committed to writing. It introduces Ādinājha, the first tirthankara and his two daughters, Mallinātha, the nineteeth tirtharkara, who according to the Svetāmbaras was a woman, and Rājimati, an ascetic who was betrothed to the twenty-second tirtharikara.
Chapter 2: uses as its sources both oral tradition and history, starting from probably the villth century B.C. It introduces Pārsvanātha, the twenty-third tirthankara, and then Mahāvira, the last tirthankara, and along with him his disciple Candanā. Finally it introduces the principal acāryas, the first depositaries of the message of Mahavira.
Chapter 3: uses as its sources both oral tradition and history, from the beginning of our era up to our own days. It takes into its purview most of the regions, starting from the Northwest. We follow here a geographical order which corresponds with each section, within which the documentation is introduced according to successive historical epochs.
47 As the comprehensive study of Deo, 1956, is for the most part based on the commentaries, we shall avoid repeating the facts he has already recounted and prefer to use for this study a variety of documents, of which certain ones are hitherto little known.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
