Mahapurana (Jainism)

Not to be confused with Mahapurana.
Mahapurana
Information
Religion Jainism
Author Jinasena

Mahapurana (महापुराण) is a major Jain text [1] composed largely by Acharya Jinasena during the rule of Rashtrakuta ruler Amoghavarsha and completed by his pupil Gunabhadra in the 9th century CE.

Description

Mahapurana is a work of Pushpadanta (Digambara writer) in 960 AD in Apabhramsa.[2] Mahapurana consists of two parts. The first part is Ādi purāṇa written by Acharya Jinasena. The second part is Uttarpurana which is the section composed by Gunabhadra. Adipuran contains about 37 chapters where as Uttarpurana contains about 65 chapters.[3] The completed and edited text was released by Lokasena, pupil of Gunabhadra in a celebration at Bankapura in the court of Vira-Bankeyarasa in 898 CE. The first 42 Parvans of this text were written by Jinasena, while remaining 34 Parvans were composed by Gunabhara.

This text gives an encyclopedic account of the Jain tradition.[4] The text is widely quoted. A widely used quote from Carl Sagan's Cosmos, page 140 is:[5]

"Some foolish men declare that Creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill-advised, and should be rejected. If god created the world, where was he before creation? If you say he was transcendent then, and needed no support, where is he now?",[6][7]

A number of Jain and non-Jain texts have been influenced by the Mahapurana. Mahapurana was the model for Saiva Siddhanta Periyapuranam which gives biographies of the 63 individuals.[8]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Published by Bharatiya Jnanapitha, 1979, edited and translated by Pt. Pannalal Sahitya Shastri
  2. ↑ Umakant P. Shah 1987, p. 239.
  3. ↑ A History of Indian Literature: Buddhist literature and Jaina literature. Moriz Winternitz. University of Calcutta, 1933. p. 637
  4. ↑ "Antiquity Of Jainism". Umich.edu. Retrieved 2012-04-21.
  5. ↑ http://www.angelfire.com/blog2/endovelico/CarlSagan-Cosmos.pdf
  6. ↑ Ct12-1 Archived 21 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Afterword on Jinasena, D. Lakey, The Philosophical Forum, Volume 33 Issue 3 Page 343-344 - Fall 2002
  8. ↑ Anne E. Monius, Love, Violence, and the Aesthetics of disgust: Saivas and Jains In Medieval South India in Journal of Indian Philosophy, 2004, vol. 32, no 2-3, pp. 113-172

References


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