Article: Digambara canon

Image of a siddha
Image by Hindi Granth Karyala © Public domain

The Digambara canon or siddhānta comprises numerous texts. Two are believed to be all that remains of the original Pūrvas and were composed in the 2nd to 3rd century. The rest of the canon is made up of later texts, called the Anuyogas or ‘Expositions’, which are categorised into four classes. The Anuyoga texts may be grouped in different ways, sometimes presented in one class, sometimes in another according to the criteria used, so their number and positions are not universally agreed.

The two oldest scriptures are the holiest because they contain elements of the Pūrvas created by Mahāvīra’s chief disciples that captured and shaped his teachings. Both the Ṣaṭkhaṇḍāgama – Scripture in Six Parts – and the Kaṣāya-prābhṛta – Treatise on Passions – are highly technical works on karma. Though written in the 9th century, chiefly by Vīrasena, the commentaries are usually read alongside them, since they are hard to understand otherwise.

Since there is no agreement on the texts that comprise the Anuyoga group of scriptures, the number of texts is fluid. The Anuyogas were written between the 2nd and the 11th centuries CE, either in Jaina Śaurasenī Prakrit or in Sanskrit. They explore various key fields of knowledge and conduct, such as the behaviour of mendicants and laity, cosmology, the soul and philosophy.

On the whole, Digambara scriptures have received less attention from scholars in the West than their Śvetāmbara counterparts. This is principally because of the higher number of Śvetāmbara manuscripts in the West, a result of earlier and more frequent historical encounters between Europeans and Śvetāmbara Jains. Digambaras have also resisted attempts to make their holy works widely available for research until relatively recently. For these reasons, statements about the Digambara canon can be made with less certainty than similar ones about Śvetāmbara scriptures.

Like the Śvetāmbara sacred writings, Digambara scriptures are written in Prakrit and have been the focus of commentaries almost since their composition.

Mount Girnar
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The oldest Digambara text is supposedly based on one of the Pūrvas, a small part of which had been remembered by the monk Dharasena, who lived in the 2nd century CE. Tradition has it that he passed it on to his disciples after calling them to his retreat on Mount Girnar, in the ‘Moon Cave’. Puṣpadanta and Bhūtabali committed the teachings to writing. Thus it could be that this work is actually the first written text of the Jains. This explains why Puṣpadanta and Bhūtabali are venerated during the Digambara festival of knowledge, the Śruta-pañcamī.

The Scripture in Six Parts is an extensive treatise on Karmakarma theory, which includes calculations and subdivisions. Dealing with karma and its attachment to the soul, and with the nature of karma, it is written in concise prose, mostly in the aphoristic style. It is highly technical and widely accepted as meant only for specialists. It involves a lot of methodology and scholastics akin to what the Śvetāmbara tradition has preserved in the Cūlikā texts, such as the Nandī-sūtra or in the Anuyogadvāra-sūtra.

As its name suggests, the Ṣaṭkhaṇḍāgama is in six parts.

This table is based on Nand Lal Jain 2004: xiv to xv and Divakar 2000, I: 16ff.

The last part, ‘Mahā-bandha’, is also called ‘Mahā-dhavalā’ – ‘Great Luminous’. It has been transmitted separately, probably because:

• it is much larger than all the other parts put together
• Vīrasena has not commented upon it (Jain in Diwakar 2000, I: 14).

The eminent scholar monk Vīrasena completed his commentary on the first five parts in 816 CE. Written in both Prakrit and Sanskrit, this commentary is known as Dhavalā – Luminous.

Digambara canon on display
Image by Nalini Balbir © Nalini Balbir

The Digambara scriptural tradition is extremely rich and interesting. As well as the two main scriptures, the Digambaras include several other reference works in their canon, which are known as the Anuyogas or ‘Expositions’. These were composed between the 2nd and the 11th centuries CE, either in Jaina Śaurasenī Prakrit or in Sanskrit. They are grouped in four categories, representing various fields of knowledge and learning.

This table of topics and texts should be viewed as presenting a sample of authoritative works, in no way giving an exhaustive list. Certain texts may appear in different anuyogas, according to the classification system used.

Monks and novices
Image by Wellcome Trust Library © Wellcome Library, London

A range of attitudes towards ways of using the holy texts can be found among Digambara Jains. Through the centuries scholar monks have referenced the scriptures to give authority to their opinions in intellectual arguments. Despite the crucial role of scriptural knowledge in spiritual progress, many Jains have not had direct access to the holy writings. Attitudes to reading the scriptures differ among the various Digambara sects and may depend on whether the reader is lay or mendicant. The idea of publishing the scriptures has also been hotly contested.

Proof of scriptural knowledge being used to support arguments is plentiful since the medieval period. The sectarian divisions common among Digambaras from at least the fifth century were often fuelled by different interpretations of various holy texts. Scholar monks tended to quote phrases and whole sections of certain works. One popular method of promoting viewpoints included scriptural quotations in the format of a dialogue of questions and answers. These texts – praśnottaras or bols – remain favoured pedagogical tools.

The Digambara subsects demonstrate a variety of attitudes towards allowing access to the holy writings. Some mendicant orders allow monks of a certain rank to study scriptures but the main method of transmitting the teachings is still lectures by senior monks. Students may enter into discussions with their teacher, but on the whole they are expected to listen.

The complexity of many of the Digambara texts puts them beyond the reach of readers who lack a thorough knowledge of karma theory and various philosophical fields. Lay access to scriptures is usually under mendicant supervision or via monastic sermons and specially created material. Ordinary Jains can read stories, hymns or digests that are targeted at the lay readership.

Preaching monks
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Jains have frequently been opposed to the publication of their scriptures. This is partly because printing is a mechanical process and may thus cause harm. Another reason is connected with the quasi-magical qualities Jains give to their holy writings.

Only after overcoming long resistance from the Jain community did Digambara academics succeed in publishing the scriptures, beginning in 1939. The tale illustrates some of the concerns of Digambara Jains, both lay and mendicant.

The texts seem to have been unavailable to nearly everyone until the late 19th century. Pandit Todarmal, an 18th-century Digambara lay scholar from Jaipur in Rajasthan, knew of only one surviving Ṣaṭkhaṇḍāgama manuscript. It was in Mudbidri in Karnataka, but was a sacred and inaccessible object. In 1883, Seth Manikchand, a merchant from Bombay, asked to see it. He was told that seeing and worshipping the manuscript – darśana and pūjā – were sufficient, because, it was said, nobody could understand it anyway.

Academics persisted for more than a decade before getting permission to prepare two copies of the manuscripts, on the condition that they remained in Mudbidri. The work was started and interrupted, then resumed. Taking more than 25 years, the copies of the Old Kannada text were completed by the famous Paṇḍit Brahma-sūri from Shravana Belgola. Permission to publish was, however, refused.

In the meantime, someone managed to get a third copy made, and several other copies in Kannada and in Devanāgarī script appeared.

Leading Digambara scholars, including Pandit Nathuram Premi and Hiralal Jain, worked hard to overcome resistance from monks and lay people who were against printing sacred scriptures. They also found financial support for publication of the Ṣaṭkhaṇḍāgama. Along with A. N. Upadhye, they gathered a team of scholars to start the work.

The publication of the first volume in 1939 helped non-academics understand that studying these scriptures was the best way of underlining the importance of the Digambara tradition. The rest of the text was published and scholars were allowed to consult the original manuscript.

Śruta-skandha-yantra
Image by Nalini Balbir © Nalini Balbir

The scriptures are significant among Jains for more than their contents. The manuscript or book is a sacred object in itself. Jains honour the holy writings as a whole and also as individual items. This veneration is demonstrated in several ways. Temples may hold holy books themselves, symbols of learning and books or quotations engraved on the walls. Sacred texts may also be worshipped or feature in dedicated festivals and special ceremonies. Indeed, worship of books alone is characteristic of one Digambara subsect.

Śruta-pañcamī is an annual festival dedicated to knowledge, in the forms of manuscripts, books and religious teachers. Copies of the scriptures are displayed, manuscripts and books are venerated and new editions of the holy texts produced. The mendicants who first wrote down the principal sacred works – Bhūtabali and Puṣpadanta – are honoured. Monks – who pass on the sacred teachings – are honoured in hymns. The goddess Sarasvatī may be worshipped as the patron deity of learning.

The most striking demonstration of books as objects of devotion can be found among the Tāraṇ Svāmī Panth (Dundas 2002: 81; Cort 2006). Followers of a medieval monk, the subsect worships books instead of images.

There are also specific worship ceremonies – pūjās – and specific ritual diagrams – yantras – that put certain sacred texts at their centre. An example is the Bhaktāmara-stotra, a famous Sanskrit hymn in honour of the first Jina Ṛṣabha, which the Digambaras consider very holy.

A common sight in Digambara temples is that of metal or brass śruta-skandha-yantras. They are visual representations of the teachings in the form of a tree with 24 branches showing the various types of scriptures. These sit alongside images of goddesses or Jinas. They can be adorned with garlands of flowers.

The two oldest Digambara scriptures, the Ṣaṭkhaṇḍāgama and the Kaṣāya-prābhṛta, hold special sanctity for members of the sect. Twelfth-century palm-leaf manuscripts of the Ṣaṭkhaṇḍāgama and Kaṣāya-prābhṛta are very much associated with Mudbidri, in Karnataka. They have been preserved in a modest temple called ‘Guru Basadi’ or ‘Siddhānta Mandir’. Today the Ṣaṭkhaṇḍāgama manuscript is a kind of enthroned treasure looked after by the local bhaṭṭāraka in Mudbidri. A longstanding pilgrimage attraction, the manuscripts’ position as objects of veneration to be seen – darśana – accounts for the long delay in their publication (Dundas 2002: 64-65; Jain in Diwakar 2000 I: 13-14).