The Doctrine of the Jainas, Described after the Old Sources c7.29

c7.29

This is the opportunity for introducing the canonical sections following the Angas, viz.: the Uvangas, Painṇas, Cheyaand Mūla-suttas, of which only the first name seems to be old. To judge¹ from its appearance in the introduction to Uvangas 8-12 there was a time when no more than just these Uvangas were called by this name, i.e. "secondary Angas" because of their being closely related in contents and style with Angas 8, 9 and 11². Later on out of those and other texts (all of which may be found among the *ananga-pavittha*) there was a group formed by imitation of the 12 Angas not only as to numbering but as to its inner structure as well. For just as the Anga group starts with two works mostly composed in a high poetical and prosaic style (Bambhac. and Gāhāsolasaga) and then proceeds with dogmatical ones (Thāṇa and Samav.) followed by minor legendary accounts (Uvās. etc.), so does the Uvanga section³, as can be seen in the course of this chapter. Apart from the Angas, the Uvangas are the only section of a stationary size. Most various is the number of the Paiṇṇas or "mixed text". But the different lists betray a nucleus formed by Paiṇṇas of a disciplinary character, and among these we find a group of ten which are the most frequently quoted.⁴ The various classes of the Āgama seem to have been arranged according to the diminishing number of their members, for, historically, the Cheyasuttas ought to have preceded the Paiṇṇas. The latter dwell upon the monks' practice in more or less broad gāhā treatises, that is to say, in a remarkably imitative way, while among the Cheyasuttas (of which there are 5-7) we have the most ancient summaries of discipline. The name of this group appears as *cheya-ggantha* in Āv. 8,55 and certainly means the punishment of *cheya*, i.e. the shortening of either a monk's or a nun's seniority. And it is this seniority upon which the communal life of either is based. When seniority is dropped altogether this is called *mūla* and, indeed, the culprit then must start from the "root". But this is the situation of novices, too, and it is no more than logical to interpret the name of Mūlasutta in this direction on account of their clearly being selections and treatises about fundamental subjects for the instruction of young monks and nuns. From this point of view we understand why the diminution mentioned above is interrupted and why its mechanical principle is replaced by a methodical one¹. For in the solemn list the Mūlasuttas are preceded by two propaedeutic works, viz. Nandī and Aṇuogadārā. In both of them the theory of knowledge is treated in the style of the time. The number of the Āgamas is 45 with the Śvetāmbaras, but 13 of them are rejected by the Sthānakvāsī, their puritan offshoot mentioned before² (§ 32). As to the Digambaras, it was already said that the Angas are missing there on account of their gradual passing into oblivion. This applies to the other texts, too. Some of them were lodged in their lists of lost works³: The 5 Pariyammas of the Diṭṭhivāya are equated with 5 Pannattis, four of which we know as Uvangas, whereas the 5 Cūliyās are said to teach different kinds of sorceries. Among the so-called Paiṇṇayas of the Angabāhirayas current with the Digambaras we find the names of Śvetāmbara Paiṇṇa-, Cheya-, and Mūla-texts.