Shravanabelagola, February 16, 2006: The fruits of Shravanabelagola pontiff Swasthishri Charukeerthi Bhattaraka’s nine year old penance, camping in the pilgrim township without climbing a vehicle except during emergencies, will be unveiled on Friday when three more volumes of Dhavala granthas, the core spiritual texts of Digambar Jains, will be released in Kannada.
As all the religions in India, Digambar Jains too have their sacred texts. Jain religious text Agamas enshrines the teachings of Lord Mahaveer. But for decades this spiritual knowledge base written in Prakrit using Kannada alphabets have been out of the reach of the devotees down south with their north Indian counterparts upstaging them by zealously guarding the texts which they translated into Hindi after a 23 year old endeavour, securing the help of local Kannada pandits to read out the Prakrit text written in Kannada alphabets.
Essentially, the Agamas commonly know as Dhavala granthas is the knowledge compiled by his disciples, from the pravachans of Acharyas (gurus) to the disciples over a period of time. The availability of Agamas only in Prakrit language kept it away the common man and hampered him understanding the universal knowledge of Agamas.
Swasthishri Charukeerthi Bhattaraka Swamiji, himself a scholar, realized the need for redressing this wrong and made a firm resolve to pilot the translation of all the Dhavala Granthas into Kannada language. The result: translation of the 39 volumes of Dhavala Granthas is on process under National Institute for Prakrit Studies and Research (NIPSAR) run by Jain Mutt. Commentaries on Jain agamas are compiled in these Davala granthas, i.e., Davala, Jayadavala and Mahadavala known as Davalathrayaas. Six volumes of Dhavala have already been released so far and Granthapravesh, an introductory to the all the 39 volumes, released earlier deals with important aspects of davalathrayaas. And on Friday the 7th volume of Dhavala and 1st volume of both Jayadavala and Mahadavala will be released by the Acharyas.
The history of the writings of original scripture of Agamas dates back to the first century. Acharya Pushpadantha and Bhutabali wrote Shatkhand-agam also known as Maha-kamapayadi and Maha-karma-prabhut in Prakrit in 73 A.D. The second Purva-agam named Agraya-niya was used as the basis for this scripture. The scripture contains six volumes. Acharya Virsen wrote a commentary on the first five volumes of Shatkhanda-agama known as Davala-tika and sixth volume known as Maha-dhaval-tika, around 780 A.D.
Acharya Virsen also wrote a commentary on Kashay-pahud (Kashay Prabhrut) written by Acharya Gunadhara based on the fifth purva-agam named Jnan-parvad, known as Jaya-dhaval-tika. Mahadavala tika is the commentary on Mahabanda the sixth volume of Shatkhanda-agam written in 62 A.D. The original scripture was secured at Moodbidri later translated into Hindi.
The lone original script was available with Acharya Nemichandra Siddantha Chakravarthy who wrote an abridged version of Shatkhand-agama for Chavundaraya in Gommatasara. Ravidevi rewrote the original script of Dhavala that existed during Chavundaraya’s period, as it was in a bad state. The first attempt at translating dhavala from Prakrit to Kannada was initiated during 1967 by national award winner Pandit A Subbaiah Shastri who translated two volumes of Dhavala into Kannada. But, since then, nothing notable happened until Swasthishri Charukeerthi Bhattaraka Swamiji took the initiative.
Translation works of these scripture are being carried out at NIPSAR with utmost care without disturbing the genuine meaning of the original word. Classical usages are written in original forms and a dictionary of these words is appended to help to understand the meaning. Scholars well versed in both Prakrit and Kannada have been assigned this work. Prof Jeevandara Kumar Hotapeti, Dr. Padmavatamma, Mr. Jalatkumar Punjagouda and 17 other language experts are involved in the translation work. Jalathkumar Punjagouda alone translated four volumes of Jaydavala. The difficult mathematical dimensions of these works was translated and published in the third volume with the effort of Dr. Padmavatamma of Mysore.
Shravanabelagola Digambar Jain Mutt has earmarked a sum of Rs. 2 Crores toward this translation work. Translation of each volume costs Rs. 5 lakhs and additional honorarium is also paid to the translators. “It is an attempt bringing the Dhavala into local linguafranca. Bringing the universal language to common people will promote the cause of spreading the messages of Jainism, promoting Kanada language and renaissance of Prakrit language,” says the man behind this vision, Shravanabelagola Seer Swasthishri Charukeerthi Bhattaraka Swamiji. – Jain Heritage Centres News Service (JHCNS)