namah shri varddhamanaya nirdhutakalilatmane
salokanam trilokanam yadvidya darpanayate
Dear friends,
Jaya Jinendra
JAIN VANMAYA KA PARICAYATMAKA ITIHASA (Hindi)
By Acarya Devendra Muni
Preface by T G Kalghatgi
2006 220 x 145 mm 765 pp
Hardcover Rs. 1600
Jainism is a pre-Aryan religion. It is one of the most ancient living traditions in the world. The strength of the Jain doctrine is such that doctrinally, Jainism has retained its attributes and characteristics for over many millennia.
Tirthankara Mahavira was the last Tirthankara of this era. His teachings emanated in the form of divya dhvani. These were composed into the Agamas by the Ganadharas.
600 years after the nirvana of Mahavira, the sangha split into two, the Digambaras, the sky clad male ascetics, and the Shvetambaras, the white clad ascetics.
Each of the two sects, though followers of the same religion, and adhering to the same doctrine, felt that it was their sect that had grasped the essence of the teachings of Tirthankara Mahavira.
Chiefly, they differed on the point of ascetic nudity, considered essential by the Digambaras but not so by the Shvetambaras; and as a corollary, whether women could attain moksha in the same birth (since both Digambaras and Shvetambaras have a tradition of white clad nuns).
Digambaras and Shvetambaras also differed on whether the Tirthankaras ate, spoke, etc. The Digambara held that a kevali, who was Vitaragi, would have absolutely no attachment to His body and hence would have no desire to eat, etc. The Shvetambaras felt that a Vitaragi could partake of food and wear clothes without feeling an iota of desire for the food and clothing.
These differences led to the gradual rift in the two sects, and each sect developed its own sacred literature. The sacred literature continued to be called the Agamas, or the Siddhanta Granthas.
The Shvetambaras held that of the twelve Angas originally preached, eleven had survived but the twelfth one was lost in the passage of time. The Digambaras held that only parts of the twelfth Anga of Mahavira's "Dvadashanga Vani" had survived, the earlier 11 Angas were lost forever.
Hence, the Digambaras composed the two root scriptures, the Shatkhandagama, or Scripture in Six Parts, and the Kashayaprabhrta, the Treatise on Passions. Also, the writings of early Digambara Acaryas like Kundakunda, Samantabhadra, Pujyapada, Umasvami, Akalanka Deva, Manikyanandi and many others are accorded the status of Agamas by the Digambara community.
The Shvetambaras held three recensions of the scriptures and considered that they had the authentic Jain scriptures. The last one was held at Valabhi in Gujarat in the 6th century CE under the leadership of Devardhigani Kshamashramana.
Learned Acaryas like Umasvami / Umasvati and Siddhasena Divakara are claimed by both the Digambaras as well as the Shvetambaras as their own.
Be that as it may, the Jains have a large corpus of works that they consider to be their Agamas, and both sects have devotees queing up to reverentially pay obeisance to their scriptures.
Acarya Devendra Muni, known for his ecumenical approach, considers the scriptures of both, the Digambaras as well as the Shvetambaras in this well organised and well researched encyclopaedic work on Jain scriptures.
As observed by T G Kalghatgi in his learned Preface, Acarya Devendra has given "a fairly coherent and comprehensive account of the Agama literature of the Jains without prejudice or pride concerning any section of the Jain community. It is a far presentation of all the aspects of the canonical literature
giving a panoramic picture of the literature of all shades of the Jain faith of the Digambara and Shvetambara sections"
The book is divided into seven chapters:
- General Survey of Agama literature.
- Analysis of Anga literature.
- Study of the Angabahya literature.
- Critique of the commentaries on Jain literature.
- Study of Digambara canonical literature.
- Comparative study of Jain canonical literature with Buddhist and Hindu sacred literature.
- Subhashitas gleaned from the Jain scriptures.
This is a great work, an extremely important companion for the student of Jainism. The book ought to be part of each and every university, department and temple library.
The book is available at:
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