Life in Ancient India as Depicted in Jain Canons

SR No.: 011077
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jagdishchandra Jain
Publisher: New Book Company
Publication Year: 1947
Total Pages: 429
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 16 MB

Page 179

ARTS AND SCIENCES
It is stated that Mahavira preached his religion in Ardhamägadhi." The Jain saints are said to have preached in this language for the benefit of women, children, old men and illiterate people." The Jain authors, however, explain the term Ardhamagadhi differently. According to the Nisitha curn, Ardhamagadhi either was the language of half of Magadha or it comprised the eighteen kinds of Desībhāsā.
It may be noted, however, that Hemacandra in his Prakrta Vyakarana deals with Prakrta, Saurasenī, Māgadhi, Parsaci and Apabhramsa languages, but not with Ardhamagadhi or Arsa Prakrta. Haribhadra suri also quotes a verse in his commentary on the Dasaveyaliya which indicates that the language of the Jain Canons was known as Prakrta and not Ardhamagadhi. However, it must be admitted that the language of the present Jain Canons has undergone considerable changes and should be considered different from that in which the canons were originally composed.25
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(2) MATHEMATICS, ASTRONOMY AND ASTROLOGY
The Jains have memorable achievements in secular sciences, such as mathematics, astronomy and astrology The Suryapannatti and the Candapannatti, the fifth and the seventh Upangas of the Jain Canon respectively, deal with astronomy, the latter being completely identical with the former. The Suriyapannatti deals with various astronomical views of the Jains such as the orbits which the sun circumscribes during the year, the rising and the setting of the sun, the speed of the course of the sun through each of its 184 cubits, the light of the sun and moon, the measure of the shadow at various seasons of the year, the connection of the moon with the lunar mansions (naksatra), the waxing and waning of the moon, the velocity of the five kinds of heavenly bodies (the sun, the moon, planets, naksatras and taras), the qualities of the moon light, the number of suns in Jambudvipa, etc 6 Vivahapadala was another work on astroloThen we had Jonpähuda28 and Cuḍäman29 dealing with astrology.
27
gy.
21
Sama p 57, also a su 34, p 146
22 Aca cũ 7, p 255 According to the Jain mythology, the picachings of Mahävita in Ardhamagadhi weie understood by all alike without any distinction whatsoever, (Sama p 57), cf Vrbhanga com (3875) where it is stated that if children grow up without being taught any language, they will spontaneously use the Magadha language, it is spread all over niya, among, lower animals petas, human beings and duas
23 11, p 733 According to Hemacandia, the main characteristic of Mägadhi noticed in Ardhamagadht is the termination 'e' in nominative singular in masculine (Prährta Vyakarana, sū 287), also Bhag 1, O a sū Ii, 34
24 p 203
25 See Pt Bechudas's article on Aidhamägadhi Bhasa in the Puratattza 3 4 p 346, also Gujarati Bhasa ni Uthrant pp 107-20, Bombay 1943, also B V Bapat, I HQ,1928, p 23 A B Keith, the IT me of Pali, Buddhistic Studies, pp 728ff
26
Winter nitz, History of Indian Literature, Vol II, p 457, also see Thibaut, Astronomic Astrologic and Mathematic in Buhler-Klhorn's Groundress der Indo-Arischen Philologie, JAS B, Vol 49, pt I 1880, Sukumar Ranjan Das, School of Astronomy, I HQ, Vol VIII, pp 30ff, and 505 ff For the knowledge of astronomy among the Buddhists see Dr FJ Thomas's article Sun, Moon, and Stais (Buddhists, in Hasting's Ency. of Religion and Ethics).
Nisi cu 12, p 854.
28 Brh Bhd 1. 1303.
29 Ibid. 1. 1313.
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