JAINA LITERATURE.
[ PART 1 ]
#Historicalsources
The sacred books of the Jainas are collectively known as the Siddhanta or Agama.
The language of the earliest texts is an eastern dialect of Prakrit known as Ardha Magadhi.
The Jaina monastic order came to be divided into the Shvetambara and Digambara schools, perhaps in about the 3rd century CE.
The Shvetambara canon includes the 12 Angas, 12 Uvamgas (Upangas), 10 Painnas (Prakirnas), 6 Cheya Suttas (Cheda Sutras), 4 Mula Suttas (Mula Sutras), and a number of individual texts such as the Nandi Sutta (Nandi Sutra) and Anugodara (Anuyogadvara).
Both schools accept and give prime importance to the Angas.
According to Shvetambara tradition, the Angas were compiled at a council held at Pataliputra. The compilation of the entire canon is supposed to have taken place in the 5th or 6th century at a council held in Valabhi in Gujarat, presided over by Devarddhi Kshamashramana.
JAINA LITERATURE. {PART - 2}
#Historicalsources
The non-canonical Jaina works are partly in Prakrit dialects, especially Maharashtri, and partly in Sanskrit, which started being used in the early centuries CE.
Commentaries on the canonical works include the Nijjuttis (Niryuktis), Bhashyas, and Churnis in Maharashtri and Prakrit; the early medieval Tikas, Vrittis, and Avachurnis are inSanskrit.
The genealogical lists in the Jaina Pattavalis and the Theravalis contain very precise chronological details about the Jaina saints, but they sometimes contradict each other.
The Jaina Puranas (the Shvetambaras call them Charitas) are hagiographies of the Jaina saints known as tirthankaras, but they contain other material as well.
📍 The Adi Purana (9th century) narrates the life of the first tirthankara Rishabha, also known as Adinatha.
