ADIPURANA

Adipurana: translation

   The Adipurana is an important SANSKRIT text of the DIGAMBARA Jains (see JAINISM). It records the lives of the 63 great men of Jain history and myth (which are also recorded later in the larger compendium of HEMACHANDRA, The History of the 63 Famous Men). It was begun in Karnataka state by JINASENA around the ninth century C.E. and completed by one of his students, GUNABHADRA, whose addition bears the separate name of Uttarapuranam.

   The Adipurana was the first major Jain text that openly integrated elements of Hinduism into the Jain philosophical framework. Jinasena pro-vides for Jain BRAHMINS (who are not, however, allowed the haughtiness and privilege of Hindu Brahmins), the caste system (which in the Jain view is a political institution, not a birthright), various Hindu life transition rituals, and elements of Hindu temple ritual, which are given differ-ent philosophical interpretations.For example, Jinasena provided the first Jain fire rituals, which are clearly Vedic, Brahmanical rituals revalorized for the Jain context. Jinasena also establishes a set of “traditional” Jain MANTRAs to mirror the Hindu tradition.

   See also Jainism.

   Further reading: P. S. Jaini, The Jaina Path of Purification (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1979); ———, “Jaina Pura-nas: A Puranic Counter Tradition.” In Purana Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts. Edited by Wendy Doniger (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993); George Ralph Strohl, “The Image of the Hero in Jainism: Rsabha, Bharata and Bahubali in the Adipurana of Jinasena” (Diss., Univer-sity of Chicago, 1984); Moriz Winternitz, History of Indian Literature (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1967).