A History of Indian Literature v2.c20.s2.199

v2.c20.s2.199

So much for the Canon of the Śvetāmbara Jainas. Hitherto little is known about the Siddhānta of the Digambaras.² They, too, recognise the twelve Aṅgas. The title of the sixth Aṅga reads Jñātṛ-Dharma-Kathāṅga. They, too, include in the twelfth Aṅga the fourteen Pūrvas, which form one of the five sections of this Aṅga. Section I of the Dṛṣṭivāda, the Parikarmāṇi, includes among others Candraprajñapti, Sūryaprajñapti and Jambūdvīpaprajñapti. Those texts which do not belong to the Aṅgas are called the fourteen Aṅgabāhyas ("standing outside the Aṅgas") or Prakīrṇakas ("Miscellanea"), and are said to have been written "for the benefit of the simple-minded.” The first four Aṅgabāhyas, according to their titles: Sāmāyika, Caturviṁśatistava, Vandana and Pratikramaṇa, correspond to sections of the second Mūla-Sūtra. Besides these, the only texts to be found among the Aṅgabāhyas which also occur in the Canon of the Śvetāmbaras, are the Daśavaikālika, Uttarādhyayana and Kalpa-Vyavahāra (probably corresponding to the Dasākappa-Vavahārā of the Śvetāmbaras). It is feasible to assume that those texts which are common to both sects, present the earliest portions of the sacred writings of the Jainas. Nevertheless, the question of how far the subject-matter of texts bearing the same titles is correspondingly similar, remains to be investigated.