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A History of Indian Literature v2.c20.s2: The Canons (Siddhānta) of the Jainas

A History of Indian Literature v2.c20.s2

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The Canons (Siddhānta) of the Jainas

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² On the Canon and its history see *Jacobi* in the introductions to his edition of the Kalpa-Sūtra, p. 14 ff. and to SBE, Vols. 22 and 45, and ZDMG 28, 1 ff.; *Hoernle* in the introduction to his translation of the Uvāsagadasāo, p. vii ff. and Proceedings ASB 1898, p. 39 ff. (French Le Muséon, N.S., VII, 1906, 109 ff.); *G. Bühler*, WZKM 1, 1887, 165 ff.; 2, 1888, 141 ff.; 3, 1889, 233 ff.; 4, 1890, 313 ff.; *A. Barth*, RHR 3, 1881, 89 ff.; 11, 1885, 185; 19, 1889, 280 ff.; 20, 332; 29, 1894, 25 ff.; 45, 1902, 178; Oeuvres I, 306 ff., 344 ff., 397; II, 59 ff., 192 ff., 378 ff.; *P. C. Nahar* and *K. C. Ghosh*, An Epitome of Jainism, Calcutta 1917, Appendix C; *J. Charpentier* in the introduction to his edition of the Uttarādhyayana-Sūtra (Upsala 1921) and *W. Schubring*, Worte Mahāvīras, Göttingen 1927, p. VIII f. and 1 ff. Selected passages from canonical texts translated into German by *W. Schubring*, Die Jainas (in Religionsgeschichtliches Lesebuch von A. Bertholet, 2. Aufl., Nr. 7) Tübingen 1927.

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The most important schism within the Jaina religion, namely, into the two great sects of the Śvetāmbaras, *i.e.*, "those clad in white", and the Digambaras, *i.e.*, "those clad in air" or "naked", occurred as early as in the first century A.D. The collective term given by the Jainas to their sacred books, is Siddhānta or Āgama. Both sects are unanimous in calling the twelve Aṅgas, *i.e.*, "limbs" (of the body of the religion) the first and most important part of their Canon. Hitherto, however, we have a detailed knowledge only of the Siddhānta of the Śvetāmbaras. It consists of the following texts:—

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**I. The twelve Aṅgas:** 1. Āyāraṁga-Sutta³ (Ācārāṅga-Sūtra); 2. Sūyagaḍaṁga (Sūtrakṛtāṅga); 3. Thāṇaṁga (Sthānāṅga); 4. Samavāyaṃga; 5. Bhagavatī Viyāhapannatti (Vyākhyā-Prajñapti); 6. Nāyādhammakahāo (Jñātādharmakathāḥ); 7. Uvāsagadasāo (Upāsakadaśāḥ); 8. Aṃtagaḍadasāo (Antakṛddaśāḥ); 9. Aṇuttarovavāiyadasāo (Anuttaraupapātikadaśāḥ); 10. Paṇhāvāgaraṇāiṃ (Praśna-Vyākaraṇāni); 11. Vivāgasuyaṃ (Vipāka-Śrutam); 12. Diṭṭhivāya (Dṛṣṭivāda).

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³ The titles are given in their Prākrit form, with the traditional Sanskrit translation beside them in brackets.

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II. The twelve Uvaṃgas (Upāṅgas) or “secondary limbs”: 1. Uvavāiya (Aupapātika); 2. Rāyapaseṇaijja or Rāyapasenaiya (Rājapraśnīya); 3. Jīvâbhigama; 4. Pannavaṇā (Prajñāpanā); 5. Sūrapannatti or Sūriyapannatti; 6. Jambuddīvapannatti (Jambūdvīpa-Prajñapti); 7. Caṃdapannatti (Candraprajñapti); 8. Nirayāvalī; 9. Kappāvaḍaṃsiāo (Kalpāvataṃsikāḥ); 10. Pupphiāo (Puṣpikāḥ); 11. Pupphacūliāo (Puṣpacūlikāḥ); 12. Vaṇhidasāo (Vṛṣṇidaśāḥ).

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III. The ten Paiṇṇas (Prakīrṇas, *i. e.*, “scattered pieces”): 1. Caüsaraṇa (Catuḥśaraṇa) by Vīrabhadra; 2. Āurapaccakkhāṇa (Āturapratyākhyāna); 3. Bhaṭṭaparinnā (Bhakta-Parijñā); 4. Saṃthāra (Saṃstāra); 5. Taṇḍulaveyāliya (Taṇḍulavaitālika); 6. Caṃdāvijjhaya; 7. Deviṃdatthaa (Devendrastava); 8. Gaṇivijjā (Gaṇi-Vidyā); 9. Mahāpaccakkhāṇa (Mahā-Pratyākhyāna); 10. Vīratthaa (Vīrastava).

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IV. The six Cheya-Suttas (Cheda-Sūtras); 1. Nisiha (Niśītha); 2. Mahānisiha (Mahā-Niśītha); 3. Vavahāra (Vyavahāra); 4. Āyāradasāo (Ācāradaśāḥ) or Dasāsuyakkhandha (Daśāśrutaskandha), also called briefly Dasāo (Daśāḥ); 5. Kappa (Bṛhat-Kalpa); and 6. Paṃcakappa (Pañca-Kalpa). Instead of the last-named the Jīyakappa (Jīta-Kalpa) by Jinabhadra is also mentioned.

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V. Individual texts: 1. Nandi or Nandi-Sutta (Nandī-Sūtra); 2. Aṇuogadāra (Anuyogadvāra).

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VI. The four Mūla-Suttas (Mūla-Sūtras): 1. Uttarajjhāyā (Uttarādhyāyāḥ) or Uttarajjhayaṇa (Uttarādhyayana); 2. Āvassaya (Āvaśyaka); 3. Dasaveyāliya (Daśavaikālika); 4. Piṇḍanijjutti (Piṇḍa-Niryukti). The third and fourth Mūla-Suttas are also sometimes given as Ohanijjutti (Ogha-Niryukti) and Pakkhi (Pākṣika-Sūtra), and sometimes the Piṁdanijjutti and Ohanijjuti appear in the list of the Cheya-Suttas.[^1)

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Indeed, with the exception of the Aṅgas, the lists and titles of the canonical texts are not always mentioned in the same way. The list of the Païṇṇas, in particular, is very indefinite. Sometimes Nandī, Aṇuogadārā and Paṁcakappa are placed at the head of the Païṇṇas. The traditional number of books in the Siddhānta is 45, but the number of texts mentioned in various places varies between 45 and 50. In the Canon itself, *viz.*, in the Thāṇaṁga, in the Nandī and in the Pakkhi-Sutta, we find lists of canonical works, in which the only distinction made is either between Aṅgas and Aṅgabāhiriyas ("texts standing outside the Aṅgas") or between Aṅgapaviṭṭha ("belonging to the Aṅgas") and Aṇaṅgapaviṭṭha ("not belonging to the Aṅgas"). The last-mentioned include the names of works which occur in the Siddhānta either as independent texts or as sections of well-known texts, but also works which no longer exist in the Siddhānta.[^2)

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The language of this Canon is a Prākrit which is known as Ārṣa (*i. e.*, "the language of the Ṛṣis") or Ardha-Māgadhī (*i. e.*, "half-Māgadhī"). Mahāvīra himself is said to have preached in this language. There is, however, a difference between the language of prose and that of verses. As was the case with the Pāli verses in the

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[^1): See Weber, Ind. Stud. 17, 85. [^2): See Weber, Ind. Stud. 16, 222 ff., 369 f., 372 f.; 17, 10 ff. Some texts which Weber still thought were lost, have come to light since. In a few cases, too, gaps have been filled by other texts. *Cf.* Schubring, Worte Mahāvīras, p. 13. A list which is strikingly different from the traditional one, is that by Rajendralala *Mitra*, Notices of Sanskrit Manuscripts III, Calcutta 1874, p. 67. *Nahar* and *Ghosh*, Epitome of Jainism, Appendix C, p. xxxvii, describe the Nandī and the Auuogadāra as "Cūlikā Sūtras," and enumerate, in addition to the 45 "Āgamas" another 36 works, otherwise unknown, as "Jain Nigamas or Upaniṣads."

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Buddhist Canon, here too, the verses present more archaic forms. The most archaic language is to be found in the Āyāramga-Sutta, and next to this, in the Sūyagaḍamga-Sutta and the Uttarajjhayaṇa. Ardha-Māgadhī is quite different from Jaina-Māhārāṣṭrī, the dialect of the non-canonical Jaina texts.¹

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¹ R. Pischel, Grammatik der Prākrit-Sprachen (Grundriss I, 8) paragraphs 16-21. *Cf.* Jacobi, Kalpasūtra, p. 17 ff.; Weber, Ind. Stud. 16, 232 ff. According to the belief of pious Jainas, Mahāvīra was understood by all creatures, whatever their language was.

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Regarding the antiquity and the authority of the Canon, the Śvetāmbara Jainas themselves have the following tradition:

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The original doctrine was contained in the 14 Puvvas (Sansk. Pūrvas, *i. e.*, "old texts"), which Mahāvīra himself had taught to his disciples, the Gaṇadharas or "heads of schools." The knowledge of the "old texts" was, however, soon lost. Only one of Mahāvīra's disciples handed them down, and they were only preserved during six generations more. Now in the second century after Mahāvīra's death, there was a terrible famine in the land of Magadha, which lasted for twelve years. At that time the Maurya Candragupta was king of Magadha, and the Thera Bhadrabāhu was the head of the Jaina community. Owing to the famine Bhadrabāhu emigrated with a host of his adherents to Karṇāṭa in South India, and Sthūlabhadra—the last one who had a knowledge of all the 14 Puvvas—became head of the community which remained behind in Magadha. During the absence of Bhadrabāhu it was evident that the knowledge of the sacred texts was threatening to lapse into oblivion. A Council was therefore convened at Pāṭaliputra,² at which the 11 Aṅgas were compiled, and the remnants of the 14 Puvvas were united to form a twelfth Aṅga, the Diṭṭhivāya. When the adherents of Bhadrabāhu returned to Magadha, there was a great gulf fixed between those who had emigrated and those who had stayed at home. The latter had grown accustomed to wearing white garments, whereas the former, in pursuance of the strict requirement of Mahāvīra, still persisted in going naked. And this is how the great schism between the Digambaras and the Śvetāmbaras came about.¹ Consequently the Digambaras also refused to acknowledge the Canon, as they declared that, in their eyes, the Puvvas and the Aṅgas were lost. In the course of time the Canon of the Śvetāmbaras was reduced to a state of disorder, and was even in danger of being lost altogether. Hence, in the year 980 (or 993) after the death of Mahāvīra (*i.e.*, about the middle of the 5th or the beginning of the 6th century A.D.) a Council was held at Vallabhī in Gujarat, presided over by Devarddhi Kṣamāśramaṇa, the head of a school, for the purpose of collecting the sacred texts and writing them down. The twelfth Aṅga, containing the remnants of the Puvvas, had already gone astray at that time. This is why we find only eleven Aṅgas in the recension which has come down to us, and which is supposed to be identical with that of Devarddhi.

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² If *Sten Konow* (Acta Or. 1, 1922, p. 20 ff.) is right in his explanation of the Hāthigumphā inscription of Khāravela, then this inscription would furnish a confirmation of the Jaina tradition regarding the Council of Pāṭaliputra and the Diṭṭhivāya, and King Khāravela (170 B.C.?) would in that case have compiled a recension of the Aṅgas in 64 sections. Konow's explanation is ingenious, but very much open to doubt.

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¹ The Digambaras relate a legend about the origin of the schism, which differs from the legend told by the Śvetāmbaras. *Cf.* H. v. Glasenapp, Der Jainismus, p. 347 ff.

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Thus we see that, according to the tradition of the Śvetāmbara Jainas themselves, the authority of their sacred texts does not go beyond the 5th century A.D. It is true that they assume that the texts which were written down at the Council of Vallabhī, are based on those old texts that had been compiled at the Council of Pāṭaliputra, and which can be traced back to Mahāvīra and his disciples. The Gaṇadharas or heads of schools, who were still pupils of Mahāvīra, especially Ajja Suhamma (Ārya Sudharman), are said to have compiled the Master’s words in the Aṅgas and Upāṅgas. Certain individual texts are, however, ascribed to later authors even by tradition, for instance the fourth Upāṅga is ascribed to Ajja Sāma (Ārya Śyāma), who is said to have lived 376 or 386 years after Mahāvīra’s death,¹ the fourth Cheda-Sūtra, the Piṃḍanijjutti and the Ohanijjutti to Bhadrabāhu (2nd century after Mahāvīra’s death), the third Mūla-Sūtra to Sejjaṃbhava (Sayyambhava), who counts as the fourth head of the school after Mahāvīra,² and the Nandī, which is actually attributed to so late a writer as Devarddhi, the president of the Council of Vallabhī, in the 10th century after the death of Mahāvīra.³ Even the Digambaras admit that the first disciples of Mahāvīra knew 14 Puvvas and 11 Aṅgas. They relate, however, that not only was the knowledge of the 14 Puvvas lost at an early period, but that, as early as 436 years after Mahāvīra’s Nirvāṇa, the last who knew all the 11 Aṅgas died, and the teachers who succeeded him knew less and less Aṅgas as time went on, until the knowledge of these works was completely lost 683 years after Mahāvīra’s Nirvāṇa.

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¹ He is reckoned as the 23rd head of a school after Mahāvīra, and is said to be identical with the teacher Kālaka famous in legend, who lived at the time of Gardabhila (74-61 B.C.). *Cf.* Weber, Ind. Stud. 16, 392 f. and J. Charpentier, Uttarādhyayanasūtra, Introd., p. 27, and Cambridge History, I, 167 f. In the Commentary on the Kalpa-Sūtra, however, a distinction is made between 3 Kālakācāryas; s. Jacobi in ZDMG 34, 1880, 250 ff.

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² The year 98 after the death of Mahāvīra is mentioned as the date when the Dasaveyāliya was written. *Cf.* Weber, Ind. Stud. 17, 77.

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³ *Cf.* also Glasenapp, Der Jainismus, p. 99 f.

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Even though the tradition of the Jainas themselves would not appear to be in favour of investing their sacred texts with a very great antiquity, there are nevertheless good reasons for attributing their first origin, at least in part, to an earlier age, and for assuming that Devarddhi’s labours consisted merely of compiling a Canon of sacred writings partly with the help of old manuscripts, and partly on the basis of oral tradition. As a matter of fact, there are inscriptions of the 1st and 2nd centuries A. D. which prove that, even at that early period, the Jainas were split into Śvetāmbaras and Digambaras, and that there were schools (gaṇa) where the successive teachers were enumerated just as in our texts. As the same inscriptions also mention monks with the title of Vācaka, *i.e.*, "reader," there must have been sacred texts at any rate in those days. Inscriptions and bas-reliefs prove that the legend of Mahāvīra as known in the first century A. D. was very similar to that found in our texts. The fact that the Śvetāmbaras did not alter in their Siddhānta those rules which require that Jaina monks shall go naked, shows that they did not venture to make any arbitrary alterations in the texts, but handed them down as faithfully as they could.¹ Lastly, it is also an eloquent argument in favour of the trustworthiness of the Jaina tradition, that it should coincide exactly with the Buddhist tradition in many remarkable details.²

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¹ Jacobi, ZDMG 40, 97; SBE 22, xxxvii ff.; Charpentier, Uttarādhyayanasūtra, Introd., 25 ff.

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² Jacobi, SBE 45, xv ff.; Oldenberg, Buddha, 5. Aufl., p. 95 f. Bhandarkar (Report 1883-4, 124 ff.), relying on the tradition of the Digambaras, believes that the Jainas did not receive any written sacred books until 683 years after the death of Mahāvīra (that would be 216 A.D., but according to Bhandarkar 139 A.D.), when the last of the teachers who knew any portion of the sacred writings from memory, was dead. On the other hand, Jacobi (SBE 22, xxxvii ff.) thinks that we might place the writing of the works of the Jaina Canon towards the end of the 4th or beginning of the 3rd century B.C.

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So much is certain: the works of the Siddhānta cannot have originated at one period. The Canon which Devarddhi compiled, and which has come down to us, is the final result of a literary activity that must have begun as soon as the organisation of the Order and the monastic life were firmly established. This was in all probability the case not long after the death of Mahāvīra. The earliest portions of the Canon may therefore quite possibly belong to the period of the first disciples of Mahāvīra himself, or at the latest to the 2nd century after Mahāvīra's death—the period of the Maurya Candragupta, in which tradition places the Council of Pāṭaliputra—whilst the latest portions should probably be dated nearer the time of Devarddhi.¹ Scholars have only just begun to distinguish between the earlier and the later strata of the Canon.²

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¹ As the commentaries mention variants and books which have got lost, not even the redaction of Devarddhigaṇi has come down to us unchanged, and some additions were surely made later. *Cf.* Weber, Ind. Stud. 16, 229 ff.

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² In this connection the investigations of W. *Schubring* (Ācārāṅga-Sūtra Erster Śrutaskandha 1910, and Worte Mahāvīras, 1926, p. 2 ff.) are valuable.

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As is usual in India in the compilation of collections of texts, here also the principle followed in the compilation and arrangement of the Canon is often, not the contents, but something purely external. It is numbers which play a particularly prominent part. Thus, to correspond to the 12 Aṅgas there had to be 12 Upāṅgas,³ or texts were grouped according to the number of sections they contained. Groups of ten (Dasāo, "decades") are special favourites, and the compilers of the Canon tried all possible methods of achieving the number 10.

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³ *Schubring*, Worte Mahāvīras, p. 8, assumes that there were originally only 5 Upāṅgas.

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We now proceed to examine the individual works in the Canon, and shall deal more fully with those which are of greater importance from a literary point of view.

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The first Aṅga is the Āyāraṁga-Sutta.⁴ In two lengthy sections (śruta-skandha) it treats of the way of life (āyāra, Sansk. ācāra) of a monk. The first section, which makes a very archaic impression, is most decidedly earlier than the second, and yet even the first is a mosaic pieced together from heterogeneous elements. Here again we meet with the mixture of prose and verse which we so frequently encountered in Buddhist literature. Now we have long series of stanzas, now long prose passages without verse, then again a rapid change between prose and verse, and often it is only fragments of verses, some long, some short, which are inserted into the prose passages.[^1)

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⁴ Edited by H. *Jacobi*, London PTS 1882 and translated by the same scholar in SBE, Vol. 22. The first Śrutaskandha, the Bambhacerāiṁ (brahmacaryāṇi, "Rules for the holy life") has been newly edited by W. *Schubring* in AKM XII, 4, Leipzig 1910, and translated into German by him in "Worte Mahāvīras," pp. 66-121. Edition with commentary in the ĀgS series.

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These sermons consist mainly of exhortations and warnings, *e.g.*, the warning against any kind of killing or injury of living creatures, for instance:

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"I speak thus. All Saints (Arhats) and Lords (Bhagavats) in the past, in the present and in the future, they all say thus, speak thus, announce thus and declare thus: One may not kill, nor ill-use, nor insult, nor torment, nor persecute any kind of living being, any kind of creature, any kind of thing having a soul, any kind of beings. That is the pure, eternal, enduring commandment of religion, which has been proclaimed by the sages who comprehend the world."
"You yourself are the (being) which you intend to kill; you yourself are the (being) which you intend to ill-use; you yourself are the (being) which you intend to insult; you yourself are the (being) which you intend to torment; you yourself are the (being) which you intend to persecute.[^2) Therefore the righteous one, who has awakened to this knowledge, and lives according to it, will neither kill nor cause to kill."[^3)

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The essential difference between the monastic rules of the Jainas and the Buddhists is, that those of the Jainas lay much

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[^1): Schubring in his edition and his translation of the Bambhacerāiṁ, has made an attempt to separate out the mosaic-like portions of the work, metrical and prose passages, and to throw light on the very entangled assortment of texts. Though he has brought much ingeniousness to bear on his task, he has only succeeded in part. *Cf.* Jacobi in AR 18, 1915, 263 ff. [^2): The intended meaning is: The consequences of the action return to yourself. [^3): I, 4, 11; 5, 5, 4. This kind of repetition and accumulation of synonymous or almost synonymous expressions is just as popular in the Jinistic sermons as in the Buddhist ones.

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more stress on severe asceticism, and even go as far as to recommend religious suicide. If a monk suffers from cold, he should rather freeze to death than break his vow. However ill and weak he may be, he should rather die than break his vow of fasting. He is to go naked, so as to expose himself to the pricking of the blades of grass, to the inclemency of the weather and the bites of the flies and mosquitoes. A long verse passage (I, 7, 8) includes, it is true, the famous ascetic rule, which is known to the Brahmins and Buddhists also, *viz.*, "He should not desire life, he should not long for death": this is, however, immediately followed by the characteristic rules on the various methods by which the accomplished sage is to starve himself to death by slow degrees. This passage is followed by a long narrative poem—really a mosaic of verses, in which it is often doubtful whether they *are* verses—the Ohāṇasuyaṃ (I, 8),¹ describing in a very graphic manner the ascetic life of the "Great Hero :"

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¹ Translated in its entirety by *Jacobi* in SBE, Vol. 22, p. 79 ff., and *Schubring*, *Worte Mahāvīras*, p. 115 ff.

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He wandered naked and homeless. People struck him and mocked at him—unconcerned, he continued in his meditations. In Lāḍha the inhabitants persecuted him and set the dogs on him. They beat him with sticks and with their fists, and threw fruits, clods of earth and potsherds at him. They disturbed him in his meditations by all sorts of torments. But "like a hero in the forefront of the battle," Mahāvīra withstood it all. Whether he was wounded or not, he never sought medical aid. He took no kind of medicaments, he never washed, did not bathe and never cleaned his teeth. In winter he meditated in the shade, in the heat of summer he seated himself in the scorching sun. Often he drank no water for months. Sometimes he took only every sixth, eighth, tenth or twelfth meal, and pursued his meditations without craving.

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Section II of the Āyāraṃga is a much later work, as can be seen by the mere fact of the sub-divisions being described as Cūlās, *i.e.*, "appendices." The subject-matter of the first two Cūlās is dry rules for begging and wandering, and the daily life of the monks and nuns. In the rules as regards begging, and in the dietary regulations, the main point is that only such food is to be taken as does not in any way entail the destruction of life. In the rules for speaking (II, 4) the essential point is that the monk shall utter no falsehood, nor anything which may hurt. The third Cūlā contains the materials for a biography of Mahāvīra, which have been utilised in Bhadrabāhu's Kalpa-Sūtra, and which recur there in part. The book ends with twelve verses, the contents of which are somewhat reminiscent of the Buddhist Theragāthās.

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The second Aṅga, the Sūyagaḍaṁga,¹ treats of the pious life of the monks, and is mainly devoted to the confutation of heretical opinions. This Aṅga, too, consists of two books, the second of which is probably only an appendix, added later, to the old Aṅga which we have in the first book. This is composed in verses, Ślokas and also more artificial metres;² the similes, too, show that the author was desirous of proving himself to be a poet. Some of these similes are turned quite prettily, as for instance, when it says: As birds of prey swoop down upon young, unfledged birds and carry them off, thus unscrupulous people seek to entice young monks (I, 14, 2 ff.) The explicit purpose of the book is to keep young monks away from the heretical doctrines of other teachers, to warn them of all dangers and temptations, to confirm them in their faith and thus lead them to the highest goal. The work begins with a condemnation of the doctrines of the Buddhists and other heretics, and the principal teachings of Mahāvīra are set forth in opposition to these. It is true, nevertheless, that what is here said about Karman and Saṃsāra does not differ greatly from the "heretical" doctrines. For instance, such sentences as the following (I, 2, 1, 13) might be found equally well in a Buddhist text:

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¹ Published with various commentaries in the Āgama-Saṁgraha, Vol. 2, Bombay 1880; with Śīlāṅkācārya's commentary, Bombay 1917 for AUS. Translated into English by Jacobi in SBE, Vol. 45, and selected sections into German by *Schubring*, Worte Mahāvīras. Sūtrakṛtāṅga is a false Sanskritisation; for, as *Schubring* (*Worte Mahāvīras*, p. 12) has rightly observed, *sūtra*, "text," is *sutta* in Prākrit, and not *sūya*. He therefore explains *sūyagaḍaṁga* as the Aṅga of the Sūcākṛt or "philosophers," and is thinking of the meaning *dṛṣṭi* which is given by lexicographers both for *sūcā* and *ṣūci*. It is true that neither *sūcikṛt* nor *dṛṣṭikṛt* occurs anywhere else in the sense of "philosopher." The Nijjutti says that there are three names of the Aṅga: *sūtagadaṁ*, *suttakaḍaṁ* and *sūyagaḍaṁ*. The last is explained thus by Śīlāṅka: *sūcākṛtam iti svaparasamayārthasūcanaṁ sūcā sāsmin kṛteti*. This is right. The title means: "The Aṅga in which the distinction (between the true and the false doctrines) is made."

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² Vaitālīya stanzas and Yamakas occur, cf. *Jacobi*, ZDMG 38, 593; 40 101.

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"It is not myself alone who suffers, all creatures in the world suffer; this a wise man should consider, and he should patiently bear (such calamities) as befall him, without giving way to his passions."¹

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¹ I, 2, 1, 13, translated by *Jacobi* in SBE, Vol. 45, p. 251.

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There is a graphic description of the cares and dangers with which the monastic life is fraught, but by which the novice should not allow himself to be repelled. His friends and relatives seek to hold him back, and paint the joys of family life to him in attractive colours. Kings and ministers, Brahmins and warriors endeavour to entice him to return to the world, but he is to withstand all these temptations. Critics and heretics attack him, and he should stand up to them courageously. Most especially, however, the young monk should beware of the blandishments of women, who use their utmost endeavours to fascinate him in every manner imaginable. By way of warning, there is a description, not devoid of humour, of the plight of men who have been caught in the web of women.

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"And then they make him do what they like, even as a wheelwright gradually turns the felly of a wheel. As an antelope caught in a snare, so he does not get out of it, however he struggles.
"Afterwards he will feel remorse like one who has drunk milk mixed

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with poison; considering the consequences a worthy monk should have no intercourse with women."...

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..."Now hear the pleasures of Śramaṇas which some monks enjoy.
"When a monk breaks the law, dotes (on a woman), and is absorbed by that passion, she afterwards scolds him, lifts her foot, and tramples on his head."...
"But when they have captured him, they send him on all sorts of errands: 'Look (for the bodkin to) carve the bottle-gourd, fetch some nice fruit.
'(Bring) wood to cook the vegetables, or that we may light a fire at night; paint my feet, come and meanwhile rub my back!...
'Reach me the lip-salve, fetch the umbrella and slippers, the knife to cut the string, have my robe dyed bluish!...
'Fetch me the pincers, the comb, the ribbon to bind up the hair, reach me the looking-glass, put the tooth-brush near me"...
..."Pregnant women order their husbands about like slaves to fulfil their craving.
"When a son, the reward (of their wedded life), is born, (the mother bids the father) to hold the baby, or to give it to her. Thus some supporters of their sons have to carry burdens like camels.
"Getting up in the night they lull the baby asleep like nurses; and though they are ashamed of themselves, they wash the clothes like washermen." [^1) ]

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Like the authors of so many of the texts of the Purāṇas and Buddhist Suttas, a section of this Jaina Aṅga, too, dwells with truly Sadistic complacency on the fantastic description of the hells and the most gruesome torments of hell (I, 5, 1 f.). However, the author invariably reverts to polemics. Thus, for instance, he assails Brahmanical ritual, in the following terms (I, 7): If it were true that perfection can be attained by ablutions with cold water, then fishes, tortoises and snakes would attain the highest perfection; and if water really washed away the evil deed, then it must needs wash away the good deed also. Brahmins assert that perfection is to be

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[^1) ]: I, 4, 1, 9 f.; 2, 1 ff., translated by *Jacobi* in SBE, Vol. 45, pp. 272 f., 275 ff.

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attained by the daily lighting of the fire; if this were true, smiths and artisans of a similar nature would attain the highest sanctity.

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It is possible that this book is the work of a single author. It is more probable, however, that a compiler united various poems and sermons on the same theme, to form one book. On the other hand, Book II, written in prose, is merely a somewhat clumsy conglomeration of appendices. These, too, are for the most part polemical in content and have only been appended because they deal with the same kind of themes as the old Aṅga. Nevertheless, even this book is of importance as contributing to our knowledge of the life of religious sects in India.¹

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¹ On the heretical doctrines dealt with in the Sūyagaḍaṃga, s. *Jacobi*, SBE 45, p. xxiii ff. Sūyagaḍa II, 1, as has been shown by *Schubring* (Worte Mahāvīras, p. 17 f.) is closely related to Āyāra I (Bambhacerāiṃ) both in wording and mode of expression.

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In the third Aṅga, the Thāṇaṃga,² as in the Aṅguttara-Nikāya of the Buddhists, various themes of the religion are dealt with in numerical order from 1 to 10. These enumerations sometimes contain parables in a nutshell, as for instance : There are four kinds of baskets, and also of teachers ; there are four kinds of fishes, and also of mendicants ; there are four kinds of balls, and also of men, etc. Occasionally, too, enumerations occur which are not directly connected with religion, *e.g.*, the ten themes of mathematics (in Sūtra 747). This Aṅga also contains important literary data regarding the Siddhānta, especially a table of contents of the Diṭṭhivāya which has gone astray.³

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² Edited in the Āgama-Saṃgraha, Vol. 3, Benares 1880, with a Sanskrit and a Prākrit commentary; with Abhayadeva Sūri's commentary, Bombay 1918-1920. The title means "The Aṅga of the items," *i.e.*, of the subjects enumerated under numbers 1-10. *Cf. E. Leumann*, GGA 1899, 588, 592.

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³ *Cf. Weber*, Ind. Stud. 16, 267 ff.

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The fourth Aṅga, the Samavāyaṃga,⁴ is in a way a continuation of the third, the subject-matter of the first two-thirds of the work being arranged in numerical groups,¹ just like the Thāṇaṃga, except that in this case the numbers do not stop at 10, but go a long way beyond 100, as far as a million.

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⁴ Edited with commentary in the Āgama-Saṃgraha, Vol. 4, Benares 1880; with Abhayadeva Sūri's commentary, by the AUS, Bombay 1918.

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¹ Hence the title *samavāya*, *i.e.*, "group," "aggregate."

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The work begins with an enumeration of the twelve Aṅgas and a table of contents of the fourteen Puvvas. At the conclusion, however, we find very exact data regarding not only the contents but also the extent of all the twelve Aṅgas, including the Samavāya itself. There is evidence of the fact that the Aṅga in its present form is either a late work or that it contains portions of later date, in such things as the enumeration, under the number 18, of the eighteen kinds of Brāhmī script, the enumeration, under number 36, of the thirty-six sections of the Uttarajjhayaṇa, and the mention of so recent a work as the Nandī. The data in regard to the extent of the Aṅgas do not tally with their present extent, and some of the figures given are very fantastic.²

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² *Cf.* Weber, Ind. Stud. 16, 285 ff.

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The fifth Aṅga, the Bhagavatī Viyāha-Pannati, "the holy teaching of explanations," usually entitled briefly "Bhagavatī,"³ contains a bulky, circumstantial presentation of the dogmatics of Jinism, partly in the form of questions and answers, Mahāvīra replying to the questions of his principal disciple Goyama Indabhūti, and partly in the form of dialogue-legends (itihāsa-saṃvāda). The contents are a motley mixture of ancient doctrines and traditions, with numerous later additions containing frequent allusions to other works, more especially to the Paṇṇavaṇā, the Jīvâbhigama, the Uvavāiya, the Rāya-Paseṇaijja, the Nandī and the Āyāradasāo. This work gives a more vivid picture than any other work, of the life and work of Mahāvīra, his relationship to his disciples and contemporaries, and his whole personality. Side by side with reports concerning apparitions of deities and the miraculous powers of Mahāvīra, we also find purely human traits, such as in the following account of the meeting of Mahāvīra with his mother:

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³ Vivāha-Pannatti is only a corrupt form of Viyāha-P. Edition with Abhayadeva's commentary by the AŪS, Bombay 1918-1921, 3 Vols. *Cf.* A. Weber, *Ein Fragment der Bhagavatī*, in ABA 1865, 367-444; 1866, 155-352; and W. Schubring, *Worte Mahāvīras*, p. 10, 18 ff. Portions of the Viyāha-Pannatti have been translated into German by *Schubring*, *Die Jainas* (Religionsgesch. Lesebuch).

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(The Brahman Usabhadatta and his wife Devāṇandā went on pilgrimage to Mahāvīra.) “Then milk began to flow from the breast of the Brahman woman Devāṇandā, her eyes filled with tears, her arms swelled beside her bangles, her jacket stretched, the hairs of her body stood erect, as when a Kadamba unfolds itself in response to a shower of rain; thus she gazed at the holy monk Mahāvīra without averting her eyes. “Why, Master,” said the venerable Goyama to the holy monk Mahāvīra, “does the Brahman woman Devāṇandā gaze…(thus)…without averting her eyes?” “Hear, Goyama,” said Mahāvīra, “the Brahman woman Devāṇandā is my mother, I am the son of the Brahman woman Devāṇandā. That is why the Brahman woman Devāṇandā gazes at me with tender love, the cause of which is that I first originated in her.” (It is then related how Devāṇandā was received into the Order by Mahāvīra himself.)

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We are probably also justified in regarding many of the doctrines, and particularly the similes and parables contained in this book as traces of the founder's own peculiar manner of expression.

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‘Numerous parables,’ which have been handed down faithfully as such, show Mahāvīra endeavouring to make his meaning comprehensible to his hearers. He must condescend very low to the level of their intelligence, and draw on incidents familiar to them from their daily lives. Thus, for instance, the old man, to whom a blow from an axe causes the same pain as grief causes to an elemental being (19, 3); the immense number of glances fixed upon a dancing girl, the crowdedness and yet isolation of which corresponds to the kindred qualities of the single points of space (11, 10); the goat-shed, which is as full of the excrements of the goats, as origination and decay are taking place at every point of space (12, 7). Souls and substances permeate one another, as water permeates a sunken ship (1, 6) " etc.¹

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¹ 9, 33, after the translation by *Schubring*, Die Jainas (Rel. Leseb.), p. 4.

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¹ Schubring, Worte Mahāvīras, p. 21 f.

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It is quite likely that Mahāvīra delivered the speeches about Saṃsāra and Kamma as they are written down here, *e.g.*:

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"As each mesh in a piece of netting, which is set in a row of meshes, without a gap, occupying a regular and co-ordinated position in contact with the other meshes, reacts on the next mesh in regard to heaviness, drag, full-weight and closeness, even so in every single soul in many thousands of reincarnations, each one of many thousands of forms of life reacts in regard to heaviness, drag, full-weight and closeness on the life next to it" (5, 3).

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"This soul of yours, Goyama, has already been incarnated as a mother, father, brother, sister, wife, son, daughter and daughter-in-law, as a foe, adversary, murderer, injurer and opponent, as a prince, royal heir, governor, mayor, magistrate, millionaire, master of guild, commander and merchant,—as a slave, messenger, servant, serf, pupil and domestic, in relation to all souls, and all souls have already been incarnated…(as the same)…in relation to your soul, and that more than once or an endless number of times" (12, 7).

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"Just as if a man should eat food which tastes delicious, well cooked in a saucepan, and containing the desired quantity of each of the eighteen principal ingredients, but nevertheless mixed with poison, and after having consumed it, though he is in good health, yet changes…(to a condition which is bad in every respect)…, even thus, Kālodaï, souls change…(to a condition which is bad in every respect)…if they take unto themselves the hurting of beings, untrue speech, misappropriation, sexual stimulation, possession, anger, pride, deceit and greed, love and hate, strife, slander, gossip and back-biting, dislike and liking, lying and deception, and that thorn of false belief. Thus it comes about, Kālodaï, that souls perform evil deeds, from which evil fruits ripen. But if a man eats delicious

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food...mixed with wholesome substance, and though he is not in good health when he consumes it, but yet changes afterwards...(to a condition which is good in every respect), even so, Kālodaī, souls change, when they incorporate abstinence from hurting...from false belief, that thorn... (to a condition which is good in every respect)...Thus it comes about Kālodaī, that souls perform good deeds, from which good fruits ripen " (7, 10).¹

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¹ After the translation by *Schubring*, Die Jainas (Rel. Leseb.), p. 15 f., 19 f.

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The legendary portion of the work also gives an account of the predecessors of Mahāvīra, and of pious ascetics who attained great divine dignity through their severe castigations. Considerable space is also devoted to the descriptions of the heavenly worlds of the gods, which are granted as a reward to the pious, and the hells with their torments, to which the wicked are doomed. Among the legends, those dealing with the predecessors and contemporaries of Mahāvīra are specially important, namely those of the disciples of Pārśva and of Jāmāli and Gosāla Makkhaliputta, the founders of sects, to which Book XV of the Bhagavatī is devoted. This section is a good example of the way in which one sect presents the life of the founder of a hostile sect. The nucleus of history in the background of this presentation, appears to be the fact that the two hostile sects, the Nigaṇṭhas, *i.e.*, the adherents of Pārśva and Mahāvīra, and the Ājīvikas, *i.e.*, the adherents of Gosāla, were originally very closely connected, before they came to a parting of the ways.² It would seem that this Book XV of the Bhagavatī was originally an independent text, and indeed the whole of the fifth Aṅga has the appearance of a mosaic, into which various texts were inserted little by little.

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² In the Appendix to his translation of the Uvāsagadasāo *Hoernle* has translated the story of Gosāla Makkhaliputta from Bhagavatī XV. *Cf.* also *Hoernle*, ERE 1, 261, and B.M. *Barua* in Calcutta Review, June 1927, p. 355 ff.

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The sixth Aṅga is entitled Nāyā-Dhammakahāo,³ which probably means "Examples and religious narratives."¹) Book I of this Aṅga consists of 21 chapters, each one of which as a rule presents a complete, independent narrative. Most of these tales are of the type which lays more stress on some parable incorporated in them than on the tale itself; some are, indeed, nothing but parables spun out and enlarged to form narratives. As an instance of this type, there is Chapter 7, in which the following is related:

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³ Edited with Abhayadeva Sūri's Commentary, Bombay 1916 by the AUS. *Cf.* P. Steinthal, Specimen der Nāyādhammakahā, Diss. Leipzig 1881; W. Hüttemann, Die Jñāta-Erzählungen im sechsten Aṅga des Kanons der Jinisten, Strassburg 1907.

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¹ This is how the Jainas themselves explain the title. The nāyas (Sansk. jñāta) are a certain kind of stories, "they are to lay such emphasis upon either a certain definite subject of their action or a definite passage in the narrative, that the hearer will recognise that everything depends on this point of the narrative" (Hüttemann, loc. cit., p. 47 f.). There is already a classification of the nāyas to be found in the Thāṇaṃga 4, 3 (s. Leumann in ZDMG 46, 1892, 602 f.). Weber explains the title otherwise: "Stories for the Dharma of Nāya," i e., of Jñātṛ; according to his descent, Mahāvīra is also called Jñātṛputra or Nāyaputta (in the Buddhist Pāli texts Nātaputta).

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A merchant had four daughters-in-law. In order to put them to the test, he gives each of them five grains of rice with orders to preserve them carefully until he shall ask for them back again. The first daughter-in-law throws the grains away, and thinks to herself: "There are plenty of grains of rice in the larder, I shall give him others instead." The second thinks in the same way, and eats the grains. The third daughter-in-law preserves them carefully in her jewel-casket. But the fourth one plants the grains, and reaps; she again sows the harvest and reaps again, until at the end of five years she has accumulated a large store of rice. Then the merchant returns and punishes the first two daughters-in-law, assigning them the meanest tasks in the household; he entrusts the third one with the guarding of the entire property; but he gives the entire management of the large household into the hands of the fourth daughter-in-law.—These four women represent the monks some of whom do not keep the five great vows at all, others neglect them, the better ones observe them conscientiously, but the best of whom are not content with observing them, but propagate them also.²)

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² E. Leumann (WZKM 3, 1889, 331 f.,; GGA 1899, 588) has compared the parable of the talents in St. Matth. 25 and St. Luke 19, 12 ff. It is, however, scarcely feasible to assume any historical connection between the Jinistic and the Christian parable. Thus also *Garbe*, Indien und das Christentum, p. 43 f. Note; and now also *Leumann*, Buddha und Mahāvīra, ZB 1921, p. 55 ff.

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Side by side with legends and parables of this nature, we also encounter regular novels, tales of travellers' adventures, mariners' fairy-tales, robber tales and the like, in which the parable only appears in the form of a moral clumsily tacked on to the end.¹ In Chapter 8 the legend of Mallī, the only female Tīrthakara² is told, with that morality which, though sickly to our taste, is so characteristic of the monastic conception of life:

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¹ In the mariner's fairy tale in the ninth Jñāta story, the winged horse also occurs, as in the Valāhassa-Jātaka (No. 196). See above, p. 131 f., and *Charpentier*, WZKM 27, 1913, 93.

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² According to the hagiology of the Jainas, there are 24 Tīrthakaras, "preparers of the path," also called Jinas, "victors" of whom Ṛṣabha was the first and Mahāvīra the last. All of them possessed perfect knowledge (kevalajñāna), and ever again proclaimed anew the religion which had sunk into corruption. With the Digambaras, the 19th Tīrthakara is a man, Malli, like all the others, but according to the Śvetāmbaras, a woman, Mallī. *Cf.* Mrs. *Stevenson*, Heart of Jainism, p. 50 ff., 56 f.; H. v. *Glasenapp*, Der Jainismus, p. 247 ff., 284 and in Festgabe Jacobi, p. 337.

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Mallī, the daughter of the king of Mithilā, is of wondrous, incomparable beauty. Six princes learn of her beauty, each in a different way, and woo her. One of them, the king of the Kuru land, gets to know of Mallī through a portrait which an artist has painted of her, after he had seen only the princess' great toe.³ Mallī's father refuses all the six princes. They are infuriated, and combine to wage war against the king. Mithilā is besieged, and the king is helpless. Then Mallī advises the king to invite each one of the princes into the city, promising each one her hand. Owing to her power of clairvoyance, she had already foreseen everything long before, and had a "puzzling house"⁴ constructed; then she made a figure which bore an exact resemblance to herself, and put it into this house. This figure had an opening on the head, into which she put remnants of her meals every day. She took care to conceal the opening carfeully with lotus blossoms. The princes were conducted into this "puzzling house." While they are admiring the figure of the princess through a wall of netting, Mallī herself appears. She opens the figure, and a terrible stench is spread about, so that the princes hastily cover their faces and turn away, whereupon the beautiful princess moralises on the fact that the inside of her lovely body is even much more loathsome than the inside of this figure. They should therefore not set any store on the enjoyment of love. She then tells the story of her former births, in which the six princes also played a part, and announces that she has decided to become a nun, whereupon the six princes also renounce the world.

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³ This episode reminds us of the Buddhist stories of famous artists, above, p. 136 f., and the entire narrative betrays a highly cultivated art.

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⁴ Mohanaghara, "a house intended for confusion," namely a house in which a second house, and in the latter a third house stands, with net-work walls, so that the princes could be led into the house, without knowing of one another, and yet could all see the same figure.

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If is a favourite theme in Jinist legends in general, as in this particular instance, to follow up the fate of persons through various rebirths. In Chapter 13, a pious layman who had lapsed into heresy for lack of a suitable teacher, was reborn as a frog, in spite of his many good works. In this existence he is crushed by a horse's hoof, but is just able to summon his remaining strength sufficiently to repeat the formula of worship to Mahāvīra, and is consequently reborn immediately as a god in heaven.¹ Chapter 16 contains the legend of Dovaī, *i.e.*, Draupadī, in the form of a story of rebirth. This is a monkish corruption of the legend from the Mahābhārata of Draupadī's marriage to the five brothers.²

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¹ The same legend is also told in the Paiṇṇa Bhaṭṭaparinnā (cf. *K. v. Kamptz*, Über die vom Sterbefasten handelnden älteren Paiṇna des Jaina-Kanons, p. 31); similarly in the Visuddhi-Magga, above, p. 203.

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² *E. Leumann*, OC VI Leiden 1883, 3, 539 ff., believes that an archaic tradition is embodied in the Jinistic form of the legend. That is certainly not the case. See also *Weber*, HSS. Verz. II, 2, 473 f. Leumann (loc. cit. 551 f.) discusses Chapter 14 of the Aṅga, which he compares, as the Indian "Herod legend," with that part of the Kṛṣṇa legend which is told in the Bhāgavata-Purāṇa 10, 2-4. There is, however, only a very slight connection between the legend of the massacre of the innocents and the pious Jinistic legend.

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Book II of this Aṅga is a complete contrast to Book I both in form and contents, and is more closely associated with the seventh and the ninth Aṅgas. Curiously enough, the story of the goddess Kālī is here told as a Dhammakahā, "sermon,"¹ though it is eminently unsuitable for this purpose.

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¹ See *Schubring*, Worte Mahāvīras, p. 6, 13.

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The seventh Aṅga, Uvāsagadasāo,² *i.e.*, "the ten (chapters on the duties) of the lay adherent" also contains narratives for the most part. Legends are told of ten pious householders, most of whom are wealthy merchants, who impose on themselves certain forms of self-denial, take the vows enumerated by Mahāvīra, and become pious lay adherents. By dint of their asceticism they actually attain to miraculous powers while they are still lay adherents: finally they die a voluntary death by starvation as genuine Jaina saints, and are reborn as gods in the heaven of the pious. Just as in the Purāṇas and the Buddhist Mahāyāna-Sūtras, ten stories of this kind are included in one and the same frame, being told by the venerable, Suhamma to Jambu. The legends are all told after a stereotyped pattern in the most monotonous manner imaginable, so much so that in the later stories there is often only a catchword given by way of allusion to the earlier stories. The part that has the greatest claim upon our interest, is Chapter VII, in which the story is told of the wealthy potter Saddālaputta, who had been an adherent of Gosāla Mankhaliputta, but seceded from him and went over to Mahāvīra. The description of how Mahāvīra convinces the potter of the truth of his doctrine, is in places reminiscent of the best Buddhist dialogues. It is obvious, however, that the whole work was only compiled for devotional purposes.³

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² Ed. in the original Prākṛt with the Sanskrit Commentary of Abhayadeva and an English Translation with notes by A. F. R. Hoernle, Calcutta, Bibl. Ind. 1885-1888. Edited with Commentary of Abhayadeva Sūri by the AUS, Bombay 1920. *Cf.* Leumann, WZKM 3, 1889, 328 ff.; *Barth*, RHR 19, 1889, 284 = Oeuvres II, 61 f. There is a metrical, elaborated version of the contents of this Aṅga, namely the Vardhamānadeśanā in Prākṛit-Gāthās (with interlinear version in Sanskrit); s. Weber, HSS. Verz. II, 2, 492.

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³ This is also expressly stated at the conclusion of the book: "The seventh Aṅga, Uvāsagadasāo, forms a book of the sacred scripture. Its ten chapters … are recited in exactly ten days. Thus the whole book is read completely. It is however, permitted to do this with the Aṅga in two days.”

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The next two Aṅgas, composed on the same plan, can lay just as little claim to literary merit. The eighth Aṅga, Aṁtagadadasāo,¹ *i.e.*, “the ten (chapters) on the (pious ascetics) who have made an end,” originally consisted of ten chapters, but is now divided into eight sections. The ninth Aṅga, too, Aṇuttarovavāiyadasāo, *i.e.*, “the ten (chapters) on the (pious ascetics) who have attained to the very highest (regions of heaven),” is now divided into three sections with thirty-three lessons, instead of the original ten lessons. As we learn from Thāṇaṁga 10, the original contents of these two Aṅgas were totally different from the present contents.² On the ground of their form, if for no other reason, these works must be denied any claim to literary excellence. Not only are the legends related after a stereotyped pattern, but they often present merely a skeleton, which the reciter is left to fill in with set words and phrases like clichés. For instance, one passage reads: “There was once a city named Campā, a shrine Puṇṇabhadda, a forest. Description.”³ What is meant is, that a complete description of the city, the shrine and the forest is to be inserted here, as it stands in the first Upāṅga. Another instance is the part about the Thera Suhamma, one of Mahāvīra’s disciples, where there is a mere indication that a detailed description of this holy man is to be given, which can be found in the sixth Aṅga. In those cases where they are given in full, these "descriptions" (vannaa, varṇaka) are composed in an ornate style characterised by the conglomeration of long compound words. In all probability they belong to the earlier poetical portions of the Canon. Even the earliest commentaries read these descriptions as ornate prose. Prof. Jacobi¹ attempted to find in them traces of a long metre not arranged to form stanzas, but himself remarks that, though they are metrical, they are more closely akin to prose than to actual poems. However, even where the descriptions are given in the text itself, *e.g*, that of the marriage of Prince Goyama, they are very tedious, and mostly consist of nothing but endless enumerations. The only time when the narrative becomes more poetical is, when the prince announces his resolve to become a monk, and his parents endeavour to dissuade him from this course. The words in which Goyama begs for admittance into the monastic order, in the eighth Aṅga—"The world is in flames, the world is being burnt by old-age and death"—put us in mind of the famous "Fire Sermon" of Buddha. This Aṅga is of importance from the point of view of Indian mythology and history of religion, because it embodies the Kṛṣṇa-legend in a corrupted Jaina version, related so as to suit Jaina requirements. The story of the downfall of the city of Dvāravatī and the death of Kṛṣṇa is told as in the Mahābhārata, only Kṛṣṇa is made into a pious Jaina.

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