Part 3 - The Canonical and other Literature of the Jains

According to the Jains there were originally two kinds of sacred books, the fourteen Pūrvas and the eleven Aṅgas. The Pūrvas continued to be transmitted for some time but were gradually lost. The works known as the eleven Aṅgas are now the oldest parts of the existing Jain canon.

The names of these are

1. Acāra,
2. Sūtrakṛta,
3. Sthāna,
4. Samavāya Bhagavatī,
5. Jñātadharmakathās,
6. Upāsakadaśās,
7. Antakṛtadaśās Anuttaraupapātikadaśās,
8. Praśnavyākaraṇa,
9. Vipāka.

In addition to these there are

• the twelve Upāṅgas^[1],
• the ten Prakīṛnas^[2],
• six Chedasñtras^[3],
• Nāndī and Anuyogadvārci
• and four Mūlasūtras (Uttarādhyayana, Āvaśyaka, Daśavaikālika, and Piṇḍaniryukti).

The Digambaras however assert that these original works have all been lost, and that the present works which pass by the old names are spurious. The original language of these according to the Jains was Ardhamā-gadhl, but these suffered attempts at modernization and it is best to call the language of the sacred texts Jaina Prākrit and that of the later works Jaina Mahārāṣṭrī. A large literature of glosses and commentaries has grown up round the sacred texts. And besides these, the Jains possess separate works, which contain systematic expositions of their faith in Prākrit and Sanskrit. Many commentaries have also been written upon these independent treatises.

One of the oldest of these treatises is Umāsvāti’s Tattvārthādhigamasūtra (1-85 A.D.).

Some of the most i m portant later Jaina works on which this chapter is based are

• Viśeṣāvaśyakabhāṣya, Jaina Tarkavārttika , with the commentary of Śāntyācāryya, Dravyasamgrciha of Nemicandra (1150 A.D.),
• Syādvādamañjari of Malliṣena (1292 A.D.),
• Nyāyāvatāra of Siddhasena Divākara (533 A.D.),
• Parīkṣāmukhasūtralaghuvṛtti of Anantavlryya (1039 A.D.),
• Prameyakamalcimārtaṇḍa of Prabhācandra(825 A.D.),
• Yogaśāstra of Hemacandra(1088-1172 A.D.),
• and Pramāṇanayatattvālokālaṃkāra of Deva Sūri (1086-1169 A.D.).

I am indebted for these dates to Vidyābhūṣaṇa’s Indian Logic.

It may here be mentioned that the Jains also possess a secular literature of their own in poetry and prose, both Sanskrit and Prākrit. There are also many moral tales (e.g. Samarāicca-kahā, Upamitabhavaprapañca-kathā in Prākrit, and the Yaśastilaka of Somadevaand Dhanapāla’s Tilakamañjarī); Jaina Sanskritpoems both in the Purāṇa and Kāvya style and hymns in Prākrit and Sanskrit are also very numerous. There are also many Jaina dramas. The Jaina authors have also contributed many works, original treatises as well as commentaries, to the scientific literature of India in its various branches: grammar,biography,metrics, poetics, philosophy, etc. The contributions of the Jains to logic deserve special notice^[4].

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Aupapātika, Rājapraśnīya, Jīvābhigama, Prajñāpanā, Jambudvīpaprajñapti, Candraprajñapti, Sūryaprajñapti, Nirayñvali , Kalpāvataṃsikā, Puṣpikā, Puṣpacūlikā , Vṛṣṇidaśās.

[2]:

Catuḥśaraṇa, Saṃstāra, Aturapratyākhyāna, Bhaktāparijñā, Taṇḍulavaiyālī,, Caṇḍāvīja, Devendrastava, Gaṇivīja, Mahāpratyākhyāna, Vīrastava.

[3]:

Niśītha, Mahāniśītha , Vyavahāra, Daśaśnitaskandha, Bṛhatkalpa, Pañcakalpa.

[4]:

See Jacobi’s article on Jainism, E. R. E.