Jain Literature

Summary

In “Jain Literature” professor Sagarmal Jain surveys the breadth of Jain literary output and emphasises that, although Jainism is a minority religion covering less than one per cent of the world’s population, its literary contribution rivals that of larger traditionshttps://jainqq.org/booktext/Jain_Journal_2008_07_No_01/520271#:~:text=JAIN%20LITERATURE%20Prof,works%20is%20more%20than%20twenty. He notes that more than twenty thousand Jain works and over one million manuscripts are knownhttps://jainqq.org/booktext/Jain_Journal_2008_07_No_01/520271#:~:text=JAIN%20LITERATURE%20Prof,is%20more%20than%20one%20milion. Jain literature encompasses not only religious and philosophical texts but also a wide range of secular subjects; Jain scholars have written on metaphysics, ethics, epistemology, logic, cosmology, biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, geology, geography, history, astronomy, astrology, arts, grammar, linguistics and medicinehttps://jainqq.org/booktext/Jain_Journal_2008_07_No_01/520271#:~:text=philosophical%20literature,specific%20Jain%20works%20which%20deal. While the earliest Jain works were composed in Prakrit, later authors wrote in Sanskrit, Apabhraṃśa, Kannada, Maru‑Gurjar, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and English; this multilingual tradition began in the 5th century BCE and continues todayhttps://jainqq.org/booktext/Jain_Journal_2008_07_No_01/520271#:~:text=Though%20the%20primary%20Jain%20literature,and%20remain%20continue%20till%20today. Sagarmal Jain divides Jain literature into five categories: (1) canonical literature and its commentaries; (2) works on metaphysics, karma, cosmology, epistemology and logic; (3) works on ethics, code of conduct, yoga and rituals; (4) narrative and devotional literature; and (5) secular subjectshttps://jainqq.org/booktext/Jain_Journal_2008_07_No_01/520271#:~:text=We%20can%20divide%20total%20Jain,philosophy%2C%20cosmology%2C%20epistemology%20and%20Logic. He summarises the composition and transmission of the canonical scriptures: according to Śvetāmbara tradition, 78 canonical works were recognised, of which 51 survive today, whereas most have been lost in the Digambara traditionhttps://jainqq.org/booktext/Jain_Journal_2008_07_No_01/520271#:~:text=detailed%20list%20of%20these%20works,The%20first%20council%20had. The canon was finalised through a series of councils—in Pāṭaliputra about 150 years after Mahāvīra’s nirvāṇa, at Kumāri, and jointly at Mathura and Vallabhi—with the fifth council at Vallabhi (c. 466 CE) producing the written canonhttps://jainqq.org/booktext/Jain_Journal_2008_07_No_01/520271#:~:text=This%20canonical%20literature%20restored%20through,at%20Mathura%20and%20Vallabhi%20simultaniously. Commentaries on the canon began to appear in the 3rd century CE: Niryuktis in Prakrit verse were followed by Bhāṣyas and Cūrṇis (5th–7th century) and later by Tīkās, Vṛttis and Vivaraṇas in Sanskrithttps://jainqq.org/booktext/Jain_Journal_2008_07_No_01/520271#:~:text=in%20the%20year%20C%20253,Sanskrit%20commentaries%20were%20written%20by. Sagarmal Jain emphasises the importance of these commentaries and lists major commentators such as Haribhadra, Śīlāṅka, Abhayadeva, and in the Digambara tradition Virasena and Jinasenahttps://jainqq.org/booktext/Jain_Journal_2008_07_No_01/520271#:~:text=and%207th%20centuries%20respectively,Dhavala%2C%20Jayadhaval%C4%81%20and. He also highlights philosophical works like Umāsvāti’s Tattvārthasūtra and its commentaries by Siddhasena Gaṇi, Haribhadra, Pujyapada, Akalaṅka and othershttps://jainqq.org/booktext/Jain_Journal_2008_07_No_01/520271#:~:text=II%20Among%20the%20Jaina%20philosophical,candra%27s. The article suggests that the richness of Jain literature lies in its adaptability across languages and genres and its engagement with both spiritual and worldly knowledge; this diversity has allowed Jain culture to sustain itself and interact with broader intellectual currents over more than two millennia.