A History of Indian Literature v2.c20.s2.81

v2.c20.s2.81

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).