A History of Indian Literature v2.c20.s2.98

v2.c20.s2.98

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.