A History of Indian Literature v2.c20.s3.92

v2.c20.s3.92

It is, however, the biographies of the 63 "Great Men,"³ that is to say the 24 Tīrthakaras, and their contemporaries, the 12 Cakravartins or rulers of the world, and the 27 heroes (9 Baladevas, 9 Vāsudevas and 9 Prativāsudevas) of antiquity, which constitute the favourite substitute, most popular among the Jainas, both for the heroic epics and for the Brahmanical Purāṇas. These works are usually called "Purāṇas" by the Digambaras, whilst among the Śvetāmbaras they go by the name of "Caritras." Among the earliest of these works is the Triṣaṣṭilakṣaṇa-Mahā-Purāṇa,⁴ "the Great Purāṇa of 63 Excellent Men," also named briefly Mahā-Purāṇa,⁵ by Jinasena and Guṇabhadra, containing the biographies of all of the 63 men. It consists of the Ādi-Purāṇa in 47 chapters, of which 42 are written by Jinasena and the last 5 by his pupil Guṇabhadra, and the Uttara-Purāṇa, which is exclusively from the pen of Guṇabhadra. The Ādi-Purāṇa, or the "first Purāṇa," contains the story of Ṛṣabha, the first Tīrthakara, and of the first Cakravartin, whilst the Uttara-Purāṇa contains the life-stories of all the remaining "Great Men." The work does not, however, consist only of these life-stories of saints and heroes, and the episodes interwoven with them (stories from former incarnations of the principal personages, stories about their contemporaries, etc.), but in the true manner of the Brahmanical Purāṇas, this "Great Purāṇa," too, is at the same time an epic poem, which claims to give a "history of the world," and presents at the same time an encyclopædia of all that is edifying to the pious Jaina and that is worthy of his knowledge. Thus, for instance, in the Ādi-Purāṇa (38-40) the Saṃskāras, the "consecrations," which accompany the life of the individual from his conception until his death, are described in fair agreement with the corresponding Brahmanical rites. Chapter 41 treats of the interpretation of dreams. A short treatise on town planning is to be found in Chapter 16, a treatise on the duties of the warrior and the art of governing (Nīti) in Chapter 42. On the other hand, there are, in various places, hymns of considerable poetical value.