Philosophy In Jain Agams: Pūrva Literature

Fourteen pūrvas occupied an adorable place in Jain tradition which proclaims to be the everlasting source of śruta jñāna (śabdajñāna) i.e. verbal knowledge. But opinions differ over its meanings and authorship. Earlier Acharyas believed that the pūrvas were composed prior to dvādaśāṅgī and that is why they were called pūrva i.e. prior.^[1]

Another belief is that Lord Mahavira preached pūrvagata with its meaning and his scholarly disciples called Gaṇadharas in Jain tradition, compiled these pūrvagata literature before the compilation of Ācārāṅga and other aṅga literature.^[2] Hence they are called pūrvas.

The edition of the dvādaśāṅgī, which is available to us today, probably incorporates the pūrvas into itself. The twelfth aṅga is 'Dṛṣṭivāda' which has a section titled 'pūrvagata'. Thus, the fourteen pūrvas and the twelve aṅgas were not distinct and for this reason, fourteen pūrvas did not have any independent existence. It is also said that Lord Mahavira's preaching were particularly compiled in pūrvas and based on those pūrvas, gaṇadharas held discourses on the other eleven aṅgas.^[3] If 'pūrva' is understood as 'prior texts' then the fact derived out of this notion is that the aṅga literature was compiled keeping pūrva literature as the base. Āvaśyaka Cūrṇi states that Gautam Swami had compiled fourteen pūrvas on the basis of Niṣadyās.^[4] It has no mention about the dvādaśāṅgī's compilation. So we may infer that pūrvas were compiled previously and aṅgas were then composed based on pūrva literature.

Jinabhadragani Kshamashramana is of the opinion that the entire śrutajñāna (śabdajñāna) is manifested in Bhūtavāda (Dṛṣṭivāda). Nevertheless, eleven aṅgas were composed for men and for women folk having average intellect and understanding power.^[5]The study of the order of loss of the āgamas also indicates that eleven aṅgas were easier than Dṛṣṭivāda and also that pūrvas had a different structure.

Drawing the conclusion from this discussion, Acharya Mahapragya presents that 'prior to the composition of Ācārāṅga and other aṅga literature, the teachings of Lord Mahavira had been known as fourteen pūrva or Dṛṣṭivāda and when the eleven aṅgas i.e. Ācārāṅga etc. were composed, then Dṛṣṭivāda was acknowledged as the twelfth aṅga. Eleven aṅgas were compiled out of pūrvas. Therefore, anyone proficient of fourteen pūrvas is inevitably a knower of dvādaśāṅgī. Hence, we come to the conclusion that in ancient classification, āgamas are found in only two groups:

1. Fourteen pūrvas
2. Eleven Aṅgas

There is no independent place for dvādaśāṅgī. This is a combined name for pūrva and aṅgas.^[6]