A Note on the Jain Sacred
Literature
The sacred scriptures of the Jains are of great
antiquity and scholars are not certain about their dates and mode of
compilation. Originally there were sixty texts, comprised in three groups
known as the Purva, Anga and Angabahya. Forty- five texts survive to this
day, the fourteen Purva texts and the twelfth Anga (which is believed to
have contained a summary of the Purva) having been lost. The Purva texts
are said to go back to the time of Parsva, 250 years before Mahavira. From
references to them in other works it appears that they contained arguments
to refute the beliefs of their opponents, as well as Jain beliefs on
astronomy and the nature of the universe, esoteric matter on astrology and
the achievement of occult powers, discussion on the soul and its bondage
by matter and karma. The (now-lost) twelfth Anga contained five sections,
giving, it is believed, the main teachings of the Purva texts, and
including traditional history down to Mahavira which formed the basis of
later writings.
Passed down by word of mouth by many generations of
monks, the final written version of the scriptures is believed to have
been put together at the council of Valabhi in 450 A.D. They are written
in Ardhamagadhi, a Prakrit or popular spoken language (as distinct from
Sanskrit, the learned literary language of India) and contain a variety of
matters relating to Jain doctrine, the Jain way of life, regulations for
monks and nuns and stories illustrating moral and religious questions. The
Anga texts (the word 'anga' means a limb, i.e. a part of the canon) form
the oldest surviving group of the generally accepted sacred literature.
The actual process of compilation of these eleven texts as we have them
today is still a matter of research for scholars but they undoubtedly
incorporate much very ancient material. The Angabahya is a collective name
for the remaining texts of the canon, which are regarding as subsidiary to
the Anga. The thirty-four texts comprise the Upanga (twelve in number),
Chedasutra (six), Prakirna (ten), Mulasutra (four) and two independent
Chulikasutra texts. Whilst the Svetambara accept the Anga and Angabahya
texts as the sacred canon, the Digambara tradition is different.
Apart from these scriptures Jain monk-scholars were
later to produce an enormous amount of writing known as Expositions (Anuyoga).
These writings, by both Svetambara and Digambara writers, may be
classified into four groups, comprising respectively biographical,
scientific, disciplinary and philosophical works. They range in date from
the first century A.D. through medieval times, and indeed later. Amongst
the Svetambara may be mentioned Haribhadra (eighth century A.D.),
Hemacandra (twelfth century) and Yasovijaya (seventeenth century).
Kunda-Kunda (perhaps second century), Jinasena (ninth century) and
Somadeva (tenth century) may be mentioned as representative Digambara
writers. Biographical details of Kunda-Kunda are obscure but amongst his
writings the Samayasara, an important philosophical treatise dealing with
the nature of the soul (jiva), is widely-read. Whilst Kunda-Kunda wrote in
Prakrit, the author of the famous Tattvarthasutra, Umasvati, used the
scholarly Sanskrit. This work is an epitome of Jain doctrine in 357
verses. Haribhadra's Dharrnabindu is a well-known manual of morals and
asceticism. One of the most popular Jain sacred texts is the Kalpa Sutra,
a very ancient work which gives biographies of the twenty-four Tirthankara,
the succession of Jain pontiffs for many generations and rules for the
life of monks during the rainy season. It is widely read during Paryusana
and heard with devotion by the people.
Jain monk-poets wrote hymns of praise to the
Tirthankara, poems glorifying Jain doctrine and conduct, and made an
important contribution in basic recitations used in worship by the people.
The preachers used the languages of the masses in an instructive and
entertaining way and, apart from Prakrit and Sanskrit, Jain literature is
found in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Rajasthani, Gujarati, Marathi and
other Indian languages. Recently Jain scholars have started translating
their sacred literature into English (a process begun by European scholars
in the nineteenth century) to make it available to scholars and others in
the West.
The twenty-four Tirthankara of
the Present Half-cycle of Time
Images of the Tirthankara may be identified by the
emblems usually depicted on the pedestal: these are noted below. Parsva is
depicted with a canopy of seven hooded snakes above his head, Suparsva has
a similar canopy usually of five or nine, but not seven, snakes. According
to tradition Malli, the nineteenth Tirthankara, was a woman but this is
not universally accepted. The suffix-natha is often added to the names of
most of the Tirthankara.
1. Rsabha or Adinatha (bull)
2. Ajita (elephant)
3. Sambhava (horse)
4. Abhinandana (ape)
5. Sumati (a bird, described as curlew, partridge
or red goose)
6. Padmaprabha (lotus)
7. Suparsva (swastika)
8. Chandraprabha (moon)
9. Suvidhi or Puspadanta (crocodile, sometimes
dolphin or crab)
10. Sitala (four-petalled emblem)
11. Sreyamsa (rhinoceros)
12. Vasupujya (buffalo)
13. Vimala (boar)
14. Ananta (hawk or bear)
15. Dharma (thunderbolt)
16. Shanti (deer)
17. Kunthu (goat)
18. Ara (elaborated swastika, or fish)
19. Malli (water jar)
20. Munisuvrata (tortoise)
21. Nami (blue lotus)
22. Nemi or Aristanemi (conch shell)
23. Parsva (snake)
24. Mahavira (lion)
