The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c12.s2.2

c12.s2.2

The Jaina *Angas* and *Dasāos* are like the Buddhist texts full of anecdotes and stories. The psychological and ethical discussions or commands in this Prakrit literature are brought out in and through extremely realistic and secular descriptions of villages and cities as well as of economic, political and social life. Works like the *Uvāsagadasāo*⁵ (The Religious Profession of a Uvāsaga), the *Antagada-dasāo*, the *Anuttaro vavai-dasāo* and the like are quite rich in the data of secular life and worldly interests, although meant to be treatises for monks and ascetics. For certain purposes these *Dasāos* may be treated like the *Panchatantra*, the *Kathāsaritsāgara* etc. Certainly they deserve recognition by students of the *Dharma-Artha-Kāma* complex as contributions from the angle of Jaina idealists or Utopists.