Jain literature


Jain literature refers to the literature of the Jain religion. It is a vast and ancient literary tradition, which was initially transmitted orally. The oldest surviving material is contained in the canonical Jain Agamas, which are written in Ardhamagadhi, a Prakrit language. Various commentaries were written on these canonical texts by later Jain monks. Later works were also written in other languages, like Sanskrit and Maharashtri Prakrit.
Jain literature is primarily divided between the canons of the Digambara and Śvētāmbara orders. These two main sects of Jainism do not always agree on which texts should be considered authoritative.
More recent Jain literature has also been written in other languages, like Marathi, Tamil, Rajasthani, Dhundari, Marwari, Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam and more recently in English.

Origins: The Oral Tradition (''Śrutajñāna'')

According to Jain tradition, the teachings that form the basis of their scriptures are eternal. It's believed that in each universal time cycle, twenty-four tīrthaṅkaras reveal these truths. The first tīrthaṅkara of the current cycle, Ṛṣabhanātha, is considered the original source of the teachings in this era, millions of years ago.
Jains believe the tīrthaṅkaras deliver their teachings in a divine preaching hall called the samavasaraṇa, which are heard simultaneously by gods, ascetics, and laypersons. This divine discourse itself is known as śrutajñāna. Crucially, this initial form is not a written text but an oral transmission.
The tradition holds that the chief disciples of a tīrthaṅkara possess the unique ability to perfectly understand and recall this divine discourse. They are credited with converting the śrutajñāna into structured scriptures, initially comprising the fourteen Pūrvas and the eleven Aṅgas. The complete structure is often referred to as the "twelve-limbed basket", as the twelfth Aṅga contained the Pūrvas.
For many centuries, these foundational scriptures were meticulously transmitted orally from teacher to disciple through rigorous memorization and chanting. This emphasis on oral transmission was a defining characteristic of the early literary tradition.

Datings

While some authors date the composition of the Jain Agamas starting from the 6th century BCE, some western scholars, such as Ian Whicher and David Carpenter, argue that the earliest portions of Jain canonical works were composed around the 4th or 3rd century BCE. According to Johannes Bronkhorst it is extremely difficult to determine the age of the Jain Agamas, however:
Mainly on linguistic grounds, it has been argued that the Ācārāṅga Sūtra, the Sūtrakṛtāṅga Sūtra, and the Uttarādhyayana Sūtra are among the oldest texts in the canon.
Elsewhere, Bronkhorst states that the Sūtrakṛtāṅga "dates from the 2nd century BCE at the very earliest," based on how it references the Buddhist theory of momentariness, which is a later scholastic development.

The Great Schism and the Divergence of Canons

The Jaina congregation gradually split into the two sects. While Śvetāmbaras maintain that the schism happened in the 1st century CE, Digambaras hold that it happened in 2nd century BCE. Śvetāmbaras hold that the theory of Jain monks migrating from North to South is a fabricated account. Some scholars specifically state that the said lore was developed after 600 CE and is inauthentic.

''Śvetāmara'' Efforts to Preserve the Canon

Śvetāmbaras convened the First Council at Pataliputra around 300 BCE. During this council, the monks pooled their collective memory to compile the eleven Aṅgas. However, the twelfth Aṅga, the Dṛṣṭivāda, which contained the fourteen Pūrvas, was found to be incomplete or lost, as Bhadrabāhu, the only master who knew it fully, was absent. While Sthulabhadra learned 10 of the 14 purvas from Bhadrabāhu when the latter was in Nepal, the full transmission was broken.
Further efforts to consolidate the texts occurred, possibly including a council in the Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves under King Kharavela in the 2nd century BCE.
The most definitive step for the Śvetāmbara tradition was the Council of Vallabhi held around 454 or 466 CE, presided over by Devardhigaṇi Kṣamāśramaṇa. Faced with the ongoing weakening of memory, the council made the historic decision to commit the entire remembered canon to writing in manuscript form.
The Śvetāmbara sect considers this written canon, based on the Vallabhi council texts, to be the authentic Agamas, derived from the original oral tradition passed down from Mahavira, even while acknowledging that the twelfth Aṅga and parts of the Pūrvas are missing.

''Digambara'' View: The Canon Was Lost

The Digambara tradition holds a fundamentally different view. They believe that due to the famine and the passage of time, the original Aṅgas and Pūrvas were completely lost by around the 2nd century CE. They state that Āchārya Bhutabali was the last ascetic with even partial knowledge of the original canon. They maintain that Āchārya Pushpadanta and Bhutabali wrote the Ṣaṭkhaṅḍāgama under guidance of Dharasena, which is held to be one of the oldest Digambara texts. Around the same time, Āchārya Gunadhar wrote Kasayapahuda.
Consequently, Digambaras reject the scriptures compiled by the Śvetāmbaras at Pataliputra and Vallabhi, viewing them as incomplete and corrupted. This disagreement over the authenticity and survival of the Agamas is a central reason for the historical schism between the two major sects. Lacking the original Agamas, the Digambara tradition instead came to hold authoritative a set of later texts, believed to encapsulate the essence of the lost teachings.

''Svetambara'' Canon (The ''Agamas'')

The canons of the Śvētāmbaras are generally composed of the following texts:
  • Twelve Angās
  • * Āyāraṃga
  • * Sūyagaḍa
  • * Ṭhāṇaṃga
  • * Samavāyaṃga
  • * Viyāha-pannatti / Bhagavaī
  • * Nāyā-dhamma-kahāo
  • * Uvāsaga-dasāo
  • * Aṇuttarovavāiya-dasāo
  • * Anuttaraupapātikadaśāh
  • * Paṇha-vāgaraṇa
  • * Vivāga-suya
  • * Diṭhīvāya - this text was lost after 1000 years of Mahavira.
  • Twelve Upāṅgas
  • *Uvavāiya-sutta
  • *Rāya-paseṇaijja or Rāyapaseṇiya
  • *Jīvājīvābhigama
  • *Pannavaṇā
  • *Sūriya-pannatti
  • *Jambūdvīpa-pannatti
  • *Canda-pannatti
  • *Nirayāvaliyāo or Kappiya
  • *Kappāvaḍaṃsiāo
  • *Pupphiāo
  • *Puppha-cūliāo
  • *Vaṇhi-dasāo
  • Six Chedasūtras
  • * Āyāra-dasāo
  • * Bihā Kappa
  • * Vavahāra
  • * Nisīha
  • * Jīya-kappa, only accepted as canonical by Mūrti-pūjaks
  • * Mahā-nisīha, only accepted as canonical by Mūrti-pūjaks
  • Four Mūlasūtras
  • * Dasaveyāliya-sutta, this is memorized by all new Jain mendicants
  • * Uttarajjhayaṇa-sutta
  • * Āvassaya-sutta
  • * Piṇḍa-nijjutti and Ogha-nijjutti, only accepted as canonical by Mūrti-pūjaks
  • Two Cūlikasūtras
  • * Nandī-sūtra – discusses the five types of knowledge
  • * Anuyogadvāra-sūtra – a technical treatise on analytical methods, discusses Anekantavada

    Miscellaneous collections

To reach the number 45, Mūrtipūjak Śvētāmbara canons contain a "Miscellaneous" collection of supplementary texts, called the Paiṇṇaya suttas. This section varies in number depending on the individual sub-sect. They also often included extra works named "supernumerary Prakīrṇakas". The Paiṇṇaya texts are generally not considered to have the same kind of authority as the other works in the canon. Most of these works are in Jaina Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit, unlike the other Śvetāmbara scriptures which tend to be in Ardhamāgadhī. They are therefore most likely later works than the Aṅgas and Upāṅgas.
Mūrtipūjak Jain canons will generally accept 10 Paiṇṇayas as canonical, but there is widespread disagreement on which 10 scriptures are given canonical status. The most widely accepted list of ten scriptures are the following:
  • Cau-saraṇa
  • Āura-paccakkhāṇa
  • Bhatta-parinnā
  • Saṃthāraga
  • Tandula-veyāliya
  • Canda-vejjhaya
  • Devinda-tthaya
  • Gaṇi-vijjā
  • Mahā-paccakkhāṇa
  • Vīra-tthava
From the 15th century onwards, various Śvetāmbara subsects began to disagree on the composition of the canon. Mūrtipūjaks accept 45 texts, while the Sthānakavāsins and Terāpanthins only accept 32.

''Digambara'' Canon (The ''Siddhanta'')

The Digambara canon of scriptures includes these two main texts, three commentaries on the main texts, and four Anuyogas, consisting of more than 20 texts.
The great commentator Virasena wrote two commentary texts on the Ṣaṭkhaṅḍāgama, the Dhaval‑tika on the first five volumes and Maha‑dhaval‑tika on the sixth volume of the Ṣaṭkhaṅḍāgama, around 780 CE. Virasena and his disciple, Jinasena, also wrote a commentary on the Kaşāyapāhuda, known as Jaya‑dhavala‑tika.
There is no agreement on the canonical Anuyogas. The Anuyogas were written between the 2nd and the 11th centuries CE, either in Jaina Śaurasenī Prakrit or in Sanskrit.
The expositions are divided into four literary categories:
  • The 'first' category contains various works such as Jain versions of the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata, as well as 'Jain universal histories'.
  • The 'calculation' expositions are mainly works on Jain cosmology and karma. The Gommatsāra of Nemichandra is one of the most important Digambara works and provides a detailed summary of Digambara doctrine.
  • The 'behaviour' expositions are texts about proper behaviour, such as Vaṭṭakera's Mūlācāra and the Ratnakaraṇḍaka-Śrāvakācāra by Samantabhadra which focuses on the ethics of a layperson. Works in this category also treat the purity of the soul, such as the work of Kundakunda like the Samaya-sāra, the Pancastikayasara, and Niyamasara. These works by Kundakunda are highly revered and have been historically influential.
  • The 'substance' exposition includes texts about ontology of the universe and self. Umāsvāmin's comprehensive Tattvārtha-sūtra is the standard work on ontology and Pūjyapāda's Sarvārthasiddhi is one of the most influential Digambara commentaries on the Tattvārtha. This collection also includes various works on epistemology and reasoning, such as Samantabhadra's Āpta-mīmāṃsā and the works of Akalaṅka, such as his commentary on the Apta-mīmāṃsā and his ''Nyāya-viniścaya.''