Some Jaina Canonical Sutras c13.2

c13.2

The *Uvāsagadasāo* (*Uvāsagadasāu* or *Upāsakadaśās*) is the seventh *aṅga*. It contains ten chapters (*ajjhayaṇas*) dealing with the legends about the ten *upāsakas* or pious householders who by means of asceticism obtained *mokṣa* or emancipation. The legends are all told after a stereotyped pattern in the most monotonous manner as rightly pointed out by Winternitz. This text has been edited with the Sanskrit commentary by Abhayadeva Sūri and translated into English with notes by Hoernle in the *Bibliotheca Indica Series*. The Āgamodaya Samiti has also published an edition of this text with Abhayadeva Sūri’s commentary. Leumann (*Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes*, 3, 1889) and Barth (*Revue de l’histoire des Religions*, Paris, 19, 1889) have carefully studied this text which contains mostly narratives. An elaborate metrical version of the contents of this *aṅga* in Prākṛit is available. The whole work seems to have been compiled for devotional purposes. It furnishes us with materials which give a vivid picture of the social life of those days. It contains the stories of pious householders who became lay adherents, the wealthy potter named Saddāla-putta, who was at first a follower of Makkhali Gosāla, but afterwards went over to Mahāvīra, and Kundakoliya whose faith in Mahāvīra remained unabated.