Canonical Literature of the Shwetambaras
The canonical books of the
Svetambaras (the Digambaras do not admit them to be genuine) are not works
by Mahavira himself, but some of these are claimed to be the discourses
delivered by Mahavira to Indrabhuti (also known as Gautama) and to
Sudharman, and which the latter related to his own disciple Jambus-Vamin.
The Jains think that originally, that is, since the time of the first
Tirthankara, there was two kinds of sacred books. These were the Purvas
that numbered 14, and the Angas that numbered 11 The 14 Purvas were,
however, reckoned to make up a 12th Anga. This was called the Drishtivada.
The knowledge of the 14 Purvas continued down only to Sthulabhadra, the
8th patriarch after Mahavira. The next seven patriarchs down to Vajra knew
only 14 Purvas, and after that the remaining Purvas were gradually lost,
until, at the time when the canon was written down in the form of books
(980 years after the Nirvana of Mahavira), all the Purvas had disappeared,
and consequently the 12th Anga too. This is the Shvetambara tradition
regarding the loss of the Purvas. (The Digambar tradion of the loss of the
Purvas differs a little in detail, but in addition they contend that all
the Angas were also gradually lost after nine more generations).
The eleven Angas are the oldest parts of the canon, which at present
embraces 45 texts. The other 34 texts are:
twelve UvAngas (Upangas); ten Painnas (Prakirnas);
six Chheyasuttas (ChedaSutras); two independent texts, viz., Nandi-Sutra
and Anuyogadvara; and four MulaSutras.
These are enumerated as follows :
I. The eleven Angas:
1 Ayaramga-Sutra (AcharAnga- Sutra):
2. Suyagadamga (SutrakritAnga):
3. Thanamga (SthanAnga):
5. Bhagavati Viya-hapannatti (Bhagavati Vyakhya- Prajnapti):
6. Naya-dhmamakahao (Jnatadharmakathah):
7. Uvasagadasao (Upasakadasah):
8. Amtagadadasao (Antakriddasah):
9. Anuttarovavaiyadasao (Anuttaraupapatikadasah):
10 Panhavagal aniam (Prasna-Vyakaran ani);
11. Viva-gasuyam (Vipaka-Srutam).
II. The twelve Uvamgas (Upangas) or
1. Uvavaiya (Aupaptika)
2. Rayapasenaijja or Rayasasenaiya ( Rajaprasniya)
4. Pannavana (Prajnapana)
6. Jambuddivapannati (Jambudvipa-Prajnapti)
10. Pupphiao (Puspikah)
11. Pupphachuliao (Pushpaculikah)
12. Vanhidasao (Vishidasah)
III. The ten Painnas (prakirnas,
i.e., scattered pieces;
2. Aurepacchakkhana (Aturapratyakhyana)
3. Bhattaparinna (Bhaktaparijna)
4. Samthara (Sanstara)
5. Tamdulveyalia (Tandul avatalika)
7. Devimdatthaa (Devendrastava)
8. Ganivijja (Gani-Vidya)
10. Viratthaa (Virastava)
IV. The six cheya-suttas (Cdeya-Sutras):
1. Nisiha (Nisitha);
2. Mahanisiha (Maha-Nisitha);
3. Vavahara (Vyava- hara);
4. Ayaradasao (Acharadasah) or Dasasuyakk-handha (Dasasrutaskandha);
5. Kappa (BrihatKalpa); and
6. Pamchakappa (Pancha-Kalpa).
V. Individual texts :
l. Nandi or Nandi-Sutta (Nandi-Sutra);
2. Anuogadara (Anuyogadvara).
VI. The four Mula-suttas (Mula-Sutras):
1. Uttarajjhaya (Uttaradhyayah) or Uttarajjhayana (Uttaradhyayana);
2. Avassaya (Avashyaka);
3. Dashaveyaliya (Dashavai-kalika);
4. Pindanijjutti (Pinda-Niryukti).
The third and the fourth Mula-suttas are also sometimes given as
Ohanijjutti (Ogha- Niryukti) and Pakkhi (Paksika-Sutra) and sometimes the
Pimdanijjutti and the Ohanijjutti appear in the list of cheya-suttas.