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Some Jaina Canonical Sutras c18: Chapter XIII: Aupapātika Sūtra (Ovavāiya Sūya)

Some Jaina Canonical Sūtras c18

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Chapter XIII: Aupapātika Sūtra (Ovavāiya Sūya)

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The *Ovavāiya sūya*¹ (*Aupapātika Sūtra*) which is also called the *Uvavāiya* is counted as the first *upānga* among the texts of the Śvetāmbara canon. Some hold that the Sanskritized form *Aupapātika* is erroneous. *Uvavāiya* means the attainment of an existence as pointed out by S. Lévi.² An *upānga* is by its name and definition an ancillary work. Abhayadeva Sūri has written the earliest commentary on it. This text consists of 189 *sūtras*, each of which is represented by a complete paragraphic statement on a particular topic or by a particular stanza, if it is in verse. The *suttas* forming the concluding part of the text are in verse, while the preceding portion is mostly in prose. The stanzas forming the concluding *suttas* 168-169 are really interesting and important as epitomizing the statements in prose on the spiritual position and destiny of the *siddhas* or perfected ones. There are similar mnemonics also under a few other *suttas* such as 49, 56, 76 and 144. The method of treatment followed is catechetical. The text seeks to combine a treatise and a book of discourses into an organic whole. It presents its subject-matter broadly in two contexts: (1) the meeting of Mahāvīra and king Kūṇika of Campā, and (2) the meeting of Mahāvīra and his senior disciple Indrabhūti. Its object is to impress on the mind of the hearer or reader the unsurpassed greatness of Mahāvīra’s personality, the superior worth of his teachings, and the superior position of his disciples, lay, ordained and advanced. The place assigned to the *siddhas* is the highest of all. The hierarchical order is carefully shown in the second context or book comprising the *suttas* 62-189. The Pāli *Puggalapaññatti*,³ a book of the *Abhidhammapiṭaka*, presents the classified human types in a hierarchical order of its own, but its treatment is thoroughly psycho-ethical but not historical. The true Pāli counterpart of it is to be traced in those *suttas* in which the *nitthās* or goals are distinguished.

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¹ E. Leumann has edited this sūtra under the title *Das Aupapātika Sūtra* in the *Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes*, herausg. von der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, viii, 2, Leipzig, 1883, a complete edition in the Āgamodaya series has been published

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² *J. A.*, 1912, t. XX

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³ Edited by R. Morris for the PTS, translated into English by B. C. Law under the title of *Designation of Human Types* (PTS Tr. Series No. 12)

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The *Aupapātika sūtra* follows a distinct literary art of its own with its direct appeal Naturalness and the sense of ease characterize its mode of presentation. It seems on the whole what may be described as an artless art Its diction is clear, racy, sober, and dignified, in spite of the fact that the Jain theological motive of self-glorification and self-exaltation runs through its whole length. The descriptions of the city of Campā, the sanctuary of Punnabhadda, the Asoga tree in the garden surrounding it, king Kūṇiya, son of Bimbisāra, his queen Dhāriṇī, and Mahāvīra given in it are vivid and graphic and they well serve the purpose. The text also contains the account of Mahāvīra’s samosaraṇa in Campā and the pilgrimage of Kūṇiya to this place. The founder of Jainism is given the epithet, Ādikara or the first doer (*ārgare titthakare*—*Aupapātika Sūtra*, secs. 61, 20).

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The *Aupapātika Sūtra* places the Vemānika devas as the highest in the scale, then the Jyotiṣis, the Vānamantaras and Bhavanavāsis. The Vemānika gods and angels are represented by Sohamma Īsāna, Sanankumāra, Māhinda Bambbhā (Brahmā), Lantaga, Mahāsukka, Sahassārā, Acchutapadī and the rest. Māhinda’s heaven is the heaven of thirty-three gods together with the lokapālas. In the Jyotiṣi class are placed the sun, the moon, the planets, comets, and stars including Rāhu The Vānamantara devas comprise the Bhūtas, Pisācas, Yaksas, Rāksasas, Kinnaras, Kimpurisas, Gandhabbas, etc The Asuras, Nāgas, Supannas, vijju (vidyut, lightning), fire, continent (dīva), ocean (udahī), disākumāras (quarter gods), pavana (wind gods), and thunder gods (thaṇiya) represent the Bhavanavāsis. Below them are the earth-lives, water-lives, fire-lives, and wind-lives. Above all of them stands the incomparable Jina with his advanced disciples (sections 32–37).

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The eight mangalas were the eight auspicious symbols or emblems of the Jains sovatthiya (svastika), sirivacca (śrīvatsa), nandiyāvatta (nandyāvarta), vaddhamānaga (vardhamāna), bhaddāsana (bhadrāsana), kalasa, maccha (matsya) and dappaṇa (darpaṇa).¹ Other enumerations of mangalas are also met with in the Jain text ² In order to oust the vested interests of the Brāhmanas from the field, the Jains and the Buddhists had to introduce certain mangalas claimed as very efficacious. The Buddhists introduced chanting of the Mangala sutta laying much stress on the thirty-seven points of mangala or moral conditions of human welfare.³

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¹ Aupapātika Sūtra, sec 49

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² Ibid, secs 53–55

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³ Cf Mangala Sutta of the Khuddakapāṭha, pp 2-3, Mahāmangala Jātaka (No 453), and the Sutta Nipāta, pp 46-47

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The Brahmins as *Lakkhaṇa-pāthakas* suggested certain prominent bodily characteristics of a *mahāpurisa* or great man (*mahāpurisa-lakkhaṇāni*).¹ As the early Jain and Buddhist texts go to prove that the Jains and the Buddhists simply utilized them in establishing that the Founder of their own Order was the greatest of men.² In the *Aupapātika Sūtra* (sec. 16) Mahāvīra is praised as *Dhammavaracauranta-cakkavatti* as the Buddha is called the supreme founder of the kingdom of righteousness.

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¹ Digha, II, 17ff , Sutta Nipāta, 1019, 1021, Dīgha, III, 142ff, Dīgha, I, 88, 105, Jāt, I., 56, Mahāvamsa, 5 91, etc

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² Aupapātika Sūtra, sec 16, cf Dīgha Nikāya, III, pp 142ff (Lakkhaṇa Suttanta)

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The *Aupapātika Sūtra* speaks of the *tāpasas* as those *religieux* who adopted the *vānaprastha* mode of life on the banks of the sacred rivers typified by the Ganges. They were either fire-worshippers, family men or those who slept on the bare ground. They were either sacrificers or performers of funeral rites or owners of property. The water jugs and cooking pots were among their belongings. They followed different modes of bathing in the holy waters. Some of them used to blow conch shells or were winnow-beaters (*kula-dhamakas*). Some of them killed deer for venison and skin, and some killed elephants to make food provision minimizing the slaughter of life. Some went about holding a stick erect or with the gaze fixed on a particular direction. They used the bark of a tree as their garment, and lived either on the sea-shore or near water at the foot of a tree, feeding on water, air, water-plants, roots, bulbs, barks, flowers, fruits and seeds. They rendered their body cooked by the heat of the five kinds of fire and stiffened by the sprinkling of water (sec. 74). The same *sūtra* mentions a class of recluses (*pavvayā-samaṇā*)³ who were addicted to sensual pleasures, vulgar ways and vaunting and were fond of singing and dancing (sec. 75). It distinguishes between the Brāhmaṇa⁴ and the Kṣatriya *parivrājakas* and describes them as those *religieux* who either followed the Kāpila School of Sānkhya or the Bhārgava School of Yoga or represented the four grades of Indian ascetics: Bahudakā, Kuṭibratā (Kuṭicakā), Hamsā, and Paramahamsā. Some of them were Kṛṣṇaparivrājakas (secs. 76-81). The Ājīvikas are placed in a different category, their description being the same as in the Theravāda Buddhist texts (*Ibid.*, sec. 120). A gradation of *nitthā* or goals aimed at by the *Tāpasas*, *Parivrājakas* and Ājīvikas is suggested in the *Aupapātika Sūtra* as in Buddhaghosa’s *Papañcasūdanī*¹ and some of the later *Upaniṣads* Gosāla’s doctrine of six *abhiyātas* or grades of spiritual advancement may be compared with *niṭṭhā* or goals.

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³ Cf Dīgha, III, p 130—samaṇā Sakyaputtiyā

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⁴ Attha māhanaparivvāya, Aupapātika, sec 76, cf B C Law, Historical Gleanings, p 9.

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¹ PTS Ed , II, pp 9-10, 199, 217

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According to the *Aupapātika Sūtra* the destiny of worldly men is Vānamantara, that of the Vānaprastha tāpasas is the world of the Jyotiṣī gods, that of the parivrājakas is Brahmaloka and that of the Ājīvikas is Acyutapada (secs. 70, 71, 74, 81 and 120) According to the Buddhist commentator Buddhaghosa, Brahmaloka is the goal of the Brāhmaṇas, Ābhassaraloka is that of the tāpasas, Subhakinnāloka is that of the Parivrājakas and Anantamānasa is that of the Ājīvikas (*Papañcasūdanī*, PTS, II, p. 9—*Brāhmaṇānaṃ hi Brahmaloko niṭṭhā, tāpasānaṃ Ābhassarā, paribbājakānaṃ Subhakinnā (Subhakiṇhā), Ājīvakānaṃ Anantamānaso . . .*). The sūtra speaks of some recluses who extol themselves, denounce others and do work for the welfare of the householders After going through many births and rebirths they are reborn among the Ābhiyogika gods (sec 121). There are some religieux called niṇhagas (niṇhakas) who discard the words of wisdom and adhere to wrong views. They are recluses in their outward garb only. The Trairāsikas (Terāsiyā) are counted among the seven such classes of men. They are destined to be reborn after going through a long cycle of rebirths among the upper Graiveya gods (ubharimesu gevejjesu—sec 122).

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There are men in the world who are virtuous, practise piety, and honestly earn their livelihood They keep their vows and do not commit life-slaughter. They are free from anger, pride, deceit, greed, etc They are typified by the lay worshippers who after their death are reborn in the heaven of Acyutakalpa (accue kappe devattāe—secs. 123-124). The lay worshippers as householders cannot be expected to be completely free from attachment and capable of completely abstaining from killing. It is possible for those among the followers of Mahāvīra who have renounced the world to practise the samitis and guptis² and to carry out the instructions of the Master Those who are not much advanced among the ordained disciples are destined to be reborn among the gods of the sarvārthasiddha mahāvimāna (secs. 125-129). Those who are far advanced find their place in the realm of souls above the mundane world (loy'-agga-paitthānā havanti —sec. 120). The sūtra is ultimately concerned to give us a clear description of the destiny of the siddhas or perfected ones. The eternal and immutable spiritual world in which they live after the completion of their mundane career is variously called kevalakappa, isipabbhāra, tanu, tanutanu, siddhi, siddhālae, mutti, muttālae loy'agge, loyagga thūbhiyā (lokāgrasthūpikā) and loy'agga—padibujjanā. Isipabbhāra is the most familiar name for this world. It is far above the worlds of gods and Brahmās. It is nevertheless called a world by itself (puḍhavī) where the siddhas dwell for all time to come. It is absolutely free from birth, decay, death, and the cycle of births and rebirths. The siddhas while they live on earth cannot altogether get rid of physical troubles, the duration of life and their designation by name and family. They utterly destroy all that binds the soul to this earth and contaminates it. They too carry on their routine work of the day but when they attain to the final state of perfection and emancipation and pass away forever from mundane existence, they make an end of all pain. Thus with the Jainas the ultimate state of individual existence is an eternal and unchanging world which is the abode for the liberated souls. It is nowhere pointed out how the liberated souls pass their days in that world whether in a state of activity or in that of passivity (secs. 160–167).

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² Five samitis and three guptis constitute eight means of self-control (Cf Digha, I, p 172, where the ideas of gutti and samiti are the same) For details, vide Appendix II—Principles of Jainism

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The sūtra gives us an interesting list of Vedic branches of learning or subjects of study consisting of the Riuveda (Rgveda), Yajuveda (Yajurveda), Sāmaveda, Ahavvanaveda (Atharvana-veda), Itihāsa the fifth Veda, Nighantu the sixth Veda, six Vedāngas, six Upāngas, works on rahassa (rahasya), Satthitamta (Sastitantra) and many other Brahmanical treatises. The six Vedāngas¹ are said to have been represented by the auxiliary works, sikkhā (phonetics), kappa (ritual), vāgarana (vyākarana, grammar), chanda (metre), nirutta (exegesis), and joisa (jyotisa, astronomy-astrology) (Aupapātika Sūtra, sec. 77). It (sec. 76) speaks of the two allied systems of Sānkhya and Yoga, while the Jain Anuyogadvāra Sūtra (sec. 41) mentions Buddhasāsanam (Buddhism), Vaisesiyam (Vaisesika system), Logāyatam (Lokāyatam), Purānas, Vyākarana, Nātakas, Varśikas, Kodihāyam or Kodillayam (Arthaśāstra of Kautilya), the Kāmasūtras of Ghodayamuham (Ghotakamukham), etc. The same sūtra (sec. 107) refers to the development of vatthuvijjā (vāstuvidyā) or science of architecture. The *vatthuvijjā* and *vaddhakisippa* as understood in a comprehensive sense included as subjects of study the planning and founding of cities, towns and villages, the erection of buildings of various styles, council-halls, forts, gateways, decorative designs, selection and sanctification of sites, examination of soil, selection and preparation of building materials, laying out of parks, gardens and the rest. The architects were known as *thapatis* or *vaḍḍhakis*. Carpentry, wood-carving, stone-masonry, etc., were all connected with the art of building.

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¹ Really we find seven Vedāngas instead of six, if Samkhāna or arithmetic is included in them

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The early Jain and Buddhist texts bear evidence to the progress made in *Jyotiṣa* which was otherwise known as *Nakkhattavijjā* or study of the lunar constellations, their positions, movements, cataclysms and effects. In Buddha’s time people were familiar with the phenomena of lunar and solar eclipses, the names of the seven planets, the appearance and disappearance of the comets, and the succession of three or six seasons. The experts in *Jyotiṣa* were required to make forecasts of all coming events, celestial or terrestrial (*Aupapātika Sūtra*, secs. 36 and 107, *cf.* Dīgha Nikāya, 1, p 10).

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The consecration of king Kūṇiya (variant Koṇiya), son of king Bhimbhasāra (variant Bhambhasāra, Pāli Bimbisāra, Bimbasāra of the *Lalitavistara*) in the city of Campā is the grand occasion when Campā was visited by Mahāvīra. The scene of action is laid in the Punnabhadda cetiya (ceie) which was evidently a Yakkha shrine. This shrine was surrounded on all sides by large woodlands. The august presence of the Master is said to have attracted a large number of visitors including all sections of the citizens and all high officials of the State and different Kṣatriya tribes such as those of the Licchavis and Mallas, the Ikṣvākus and Jñātṛs. King Bhimbhasāra, father of Kūṇiya, does not appear to have been present at the ceremony of his son’s consecration. The queens of king Kūṇiya are said to have headed by Dhāriṇī in some sections and by Subhaddhā in other contexts. Vajirā, who is mentioned as the wife of Ajātaśatru and daughter of king Prasenajit of Kośala, is conspicuous by her absence in the Jain account. Even the political connection of Anga having Campā as its capital with the kingdom of Magadha is not indicated. Whether Kūṇiya was consecrated to the rulership of Anga and Campā as an independent monarch or simply as a Viceroy of his father, the text is silent on this point. Even it may be doubted whether Kūṇiya of the *sūtra* is the same person as Ajātaśatru of the Buddhist texts and *Purāṇas*. The tendency of the compiler of the *sūtra* is to describe all persons and things connected with Mahāvīra in their ideal aspect. The queens of king Kūniya were all well-accomplished ladies and perfect beauties. The king himself was endowed with all good qualities and bodily perfections to be installed, hailed and obeyed as the rightful sovereign of Campā. The city itself with its walls, gates, ramparts, palaces, parks and gardens, wealth and prosperity internal joy and happiness, was a veritable paradise on earth. These ideal descriptions are just a part of the general artifice for magnifying the glory of Mahāvīra and his religion. But it is not difficult to make out that the sūtra in its extant form is a much later compilation than the age which witnessed the advent of Mahāvīra and the rise of Jainism. The sūtra refers to certain high officials such as gananāyaga, dandanāyaga and tālavara, whose designations are met with in the Indian inscriptions of the post-Christian period (sec. 15). That the Jainas were out to excel the Brahmins, the Buddhists, and the rest in the art of poetical and laboured exaggerations, is particularly noticeable in the enumeration and description of the physical characteristics of Mahāvīra as a great man, the characteristics that are said to be 8,000 in number in place of 32 of the Buddhist tradition (attha-sahassa-varapurisalakkhanadhare). There are nevertheless a few earlier references that help us to clarify some parallel Pāli passages. For instance the sūtra expressly mentions the Atharvaveda which is left to be understood in the Buddhist Nikāyas before the expression Itihāsa pañcamam, Itihāsa the fifth Veda. Although some of the later categories of Jain thought such as davva, khetta, kāla and bhava (sec. 28), loe, aloe, jīvā, ajīvā, bandhe, mokkhe and the like (sec. 56) are met with, the method of their treatment is still in an earlier stage of development.

Cites (15)