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The Followers of the Ever Growing One
143
- The Purvas, or ancient, early texts: fourteen original texts which had fallen into oblivion since the time of the Council of Pāțaliputra, IIIrd century B.C.22
- The Angas, or portions, parts: twelve texts, out of which eleyen have been preserved; the twelfth, the Drștivāda, is not extant as such, but portions of it are incorporated into other texts.23
- The Angabāhyas, or texts not included in the Angas, are divided into:
i) Upāngas, secondary texts: twelve in number. ii) Mūla-sūtras, the basic sūtras: four texts.24 iii) Cheda-sūtras, of which the title comes from cheda, a type of expiation: six texts. iv) Cūlikā-sütras, appendices: two texts.
v) Prakirņaka-sūtras, various: ten texts.25
22 According to Svetāmbara tradition Bhadrabāhu taught 10 Pūrvas to Sthūlabhadra, while 4 others he transmitted to him without explanation and on condition that he should not reveal them to others; cf. PPN, pp. 350-351. For an interesting study on the Purvas, cf. Ohira, 1980b, pp. 41-55.
23 E.g. in the Prajñāpanā-sūtra of the Svetāmbaras and the Șaļkhaņdāgama of the Digambaras; cf. Malvania, 1969. The Purvas and Angas were probably compiled by Arya Sudharman, the ganadhara who was head of the ascetics after the nirvana of Mahāvira. Tradition attributes the compilation of certain texts of the Angabāhyas to munis of different periods; cf. Winternitz, 1977, p. 433; and the list which follows, P 145-148.
24 Why are these texts called mülas (derived from root, base, foundation)? Several hypotheses have been put forward; cf. JSBI, p. 143. Müla means also a form of expiation, but these texts do not treat of this subject. Certain classifications give 5 texts.
25 In this and the following Table we follow the classification given in JSBI I-II where each of the Āgamas is introduced. The Sthānakavāsis and the Teräpanthis, who belong to two reformed sects, do not accept the authority of certain Agamas; cf. P 200 ff.
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