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Some Less Known Verses of Siddhasena Divakara
Prof. M. A, Dhaky
The illustrious Jaina epistemologist, dialectician and poet of the calibre of Kālidāsa, namely Siddha. sena Divakara (c. late 4th-early 5th cent. A.D.), had produced more than what today is extant. Among his lost works was the treatise on Jaina logic, the Nayavatāral; a sentence perhaps from this very work is cited by Simha Süri kşamāśramana (c. A.D. 625-675) in his commentary on Mallavādi kşamāśramana's Dvādaśāranayacakra (c. mid 6th cent. A.D.). And although his 20 dvātrimśikās in Sanskrit are available (from the alleged 32 5), the existence of some of the unavailable can be inferred from the quotations therefrom by other writers.
The Siddhasena-carita inside the Prabhāvaka-carita (S. 1344/A.D. 1278) of Prabhācandrācārya of Rāja-gaccha gives a legendary account of Siddhasena, the account at best can boast to contain only a few fragmented facts that could be historical. Among the significant data preserved in this work are a few quotations whose utterance is ascribed to Siddhasena Divākara, though these are not traceable inside his currently known works.
Among such verses are the following which he is alleged to have composed in praise of, and recited before, king Vikramaditya (probably Candragupta II, A.D. 382-415):
अपूर्वेयं धनुर्विद्या भवता शिक्षिता कृतः । मार्गणोधः समभ्येति गुणो याति दिगन्तरम् ।। at 977*T*TAT: Farfa 14:1 यद्यशोराजहंसस्य पञ्जरं भुवनत्रयम् ।। सर्वदा सर्वदोऽसीति मिथ्या संस्तूयसे बुधः । नारयो लेभिरे पष्ठं न वक्षः परयोषितः ।।
1. Cf. Muni Jambuvijaya (editor), Dvādaśāraṁ-nayacakrań, pt. 1, Bhavanagar, 1966, Preface (Sanskrit)
p. 10 and Introduction (Gujarāti) p. 48. **." 2 प्रस्ति-भवति-विद्यति-पद्यति-वतंतयः सन्नियात षष्ठा: सत्तार्थाः इत्यविशेषेणोक्तत्वात् सिद्धसेनसूरिणा। : 3. Jambuvijaya: Dvādaśāras-nayacakrań, p. 324. 4. The style of the phrase under reference does remind of Siddhasenācārya. . 5 The medieval and later medieval prabandhas and caritas so over. There are at present no means
available to confirm or contradict their statement. 6. Ed. Jinavijaya Muni, Singhi Jaina Series, No. 13, Ahmedabad-Calcutta, 19310"
.. 7. I am discussing this question at some length in my paper "Was Siddhasena Divākara Yāpaniya ?”
जैन वर्शन मीमांसा
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भयमेकमने केभ्यः शत्रुभ्यो विधिवत्सदा । ददासि तच्च ते नास्ति राजन् चित्रमिदं महत् ।।
These verses do not figure in Siddhasena's Gunavacana-dvātrimśika (Dva. 11) which evidently is addressed to a king. The style of the aforenoted verses apparently is pre-medieval. They do possess wit, strength, kick and dynamism not unlike those that characterise stanzas in some of Siddhasena's known dvātrimśikās. However, these verses are today not traceable in other known sources which otherwise show familiarity with one or the other of his works. Under the circumstances Siddhasena's authorship of the verses can genuinely be doubted. Indeed, there were in the past several pre-medieval Sanskrit poets possessing considerable skill and virtuosity. And the medieval prabandha, kathānaka and carita writers possessed strong propensity for picking up quotable quotes from various sources and different authors and, regardless of the period, style and provenance, used them depending on what the situation demanded! The case of the above-cited verses must, therefore, be kept open, even when one may grant the possibility of their being the product of Siddhasena Divākara.
The Prabhāvaka-carita, at one other place, introduces four verses in the context of Siddhasena, which, judging by their style, cadence, content and colour can be unhesitatingly hailed as coming from the pen of none else but Divakara :
प्रकाशितं ययकेन त्वया सम्यग्जगत्त्रयम् । समरपि नो नाथ परतीर्थाधिपैस्तथा । विद्योतयति वा लोकं यर्थकोऽपि निशाकरः । समुदगतः समग्रोऽपि किं तथा तारकागरणः ।। त्वद्वाक्यतोऽपि केषाञ्चिदबोध इप्ति मेऽद्भुतम् । भानोमरीचयः कस्य, नाम नालोकहेतवः ॥ न चाद्भुतमुलूकस्य, प्रकृत्या क्लिष्टचेतसः ।
स्वच्छा मपि तमस्त्वेन भासन्ते भास्वत: कराः ।। However, the Prabhāvaka-carita is a work of a date late in the medieval period; for permitting an indubitable conclusion, a definite evidence for the indicated attribution from an earlier and a more reliable source is needed. For the first two verses the evidence comes from the Dharmopadešamālä-vivarana (S. 905/A.D. 859) of Jayasimha Sūri. The author quotes these verses as of Siddhasena Divakara's by an unambiguous qualificatory statement to the effect :
1. For detailed discussion, see Charlotte Krause, "Siddhasena Divākara and Vikrmāditya," Vikrama
Volume, Ujjain, 1948, pp. 213-280. Pt. Hiralal Jain wrote a paper in Hindi in which he places Siddhasena Divakara exclusively in Candragupta II's time instead of his predecessor Samudragupta as well as Candragupta II as was done by Krause : Cf. "A contemporary Ode to Chandragupta Vikramāditya", Madhya Bharati, No. 1, Jabal
pur University, Jabalpur, 1962. 2. Perhaps the nature and content of these stanzas are such that the Jaina writers hardly had use of them
in their commentatorial writings. 3. Jinavijaya Muni, p. 59. 4. Ed. Pt. L.B. Gandhi, Singhi Jaina Series, No. 28, Bombay, 1949.
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प्राचार्यरत्न श्री वेशभूषण जी महाराज नमनाद प्राय
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Tad=uktań ca Siddhasena Diväkarena--(p. 37) Jayasimha Süri-disciple of Kļş arşi-is a pre-medieval writer who wrote his vivarana some 419 years before Prabbācandrācārya. There can, then, be absolutely no doubt that wbat he quotes is genuine Siddhasena.
The authenticity of the next two verses is upheld by an authority no less than Yakinisūnu Haribhadra Sūri (active c. A.D. 745-785). In his Āvašyaka-vrtti (C c. A.D. 750) he cites those very verses as from Vadimukhya. By "Vädimukhya', at two other occasions, he also had meant Mallavādi Suri and Samantabhadra, the former a Svetām bara logician and dialecticiam (earlier referred to) and the latter his counterpart of the Digambara sect. However, in these latter two cases he specifically alludes to their names as well. In the case of the third "Vadimukhya", referred to in the above context, Haribhadra offers no such nomenic clarification, and, in this case, by reductio ad absurdum, the "Vādimukhya" has to be a third person, very plausibly Siddhasena Divākara. That it must be so is supported by another reference, in Haribhadra Sūri's Prajñāpanā-sūtra-tikā (Pradeśavyākhyā), where he quotes a verse by "Vadimukhya," which is verse 13 in Siddhasena's Dātrinsikå 2. That Siddhasena Divākara was the author of these aforenoted four exquisite verses cited in the Prabhāvaka-carita, is thus beyond doubt established.
The Dharmopadešamālā-vivarana, after the first two verses, quotes the following one and not those two quoted in the Prabhāvaka-carita :
त्वन्मतामतबाह्यानां सर्वथैकान्तवादिनाम् ।
graf#19019191 (a)ez acea aruã II The style of this stanza surely is in agreement with that of other verses of Siddhasena. The question arises whether all the 4+1=5 verses discussed in the foregoing originate from the same Dvātrinsika, separate Dvätriṁsikās. This problem cannot at present be resolved. Hopefully, some day the lost ones will come to light from some uncombed area when we possibly can identify the original lodgment of the verses under reference in Divākara's productions. Till then we may at least cherish these verses as a precious small addition to our Siddhasena possessions.
SUPPLEMENTUM
As an after thought, and indeed with some hesitance, I would suggest that, if the verses beginning from A pürreyaṁ dhanur vidyā could be by Siddhasena Divākara, as they do not seem unlikely, they may have formed the part of the Gunavacanadvātrimśikā which today contains 28 verses, falling short by 4 more for making it a complete dvātrimśikā. How far the former verses fit in the Gunavacana, and, if they do, where exactly their position could be is a point that can be settled by experts on Sanskrit poetics.
While searching for more verses by Siddhasena, I came across one more; it is possibly from one of his hit herto unknown dvätrimśikās. The verse graphically describes, as it seems, the condition of a bad
1. Cf. Mohanlal Mehta, Jaina Sāhitya kā Brhad Itihāsa, pt. 3 (Hindi), Parshwanath Vidyashram Series,
No. 11, Varanasi, 1967, p. 375, for quotation. 2. Cf. H.R. Kapadia (ed.), Anekantajaj apatikā, Vol. II, Gaekwad's Oriental Series, No. CV, Baroda,
1947, Introduction, pp. LC, LCVI and LCVII. 3. Mehta, Jaina Sahitya., p. 370. 4. Gandbi, p. 37.
जैन दर्शन मीमांसा
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________________ speaker in the assembly of erudites : तथा चाहुः श्रीसिद्धसेनदिवाकरपादाः / स्वेदं समुद्वहति जम्भणातनोति निद्रायते किमपि जल्पति बस्तु शून्यम् / माशा विलोकयति खं पुनरेव धात्रीं भूताभिभूत इव दुर्वदकः सभायाम् / / Since this verse does not figure inside his known dvatrimsikas, it may have belong to a dvatrimsik a treating the theme of sabha and sabhasada. This verse has been quoted by Jinaprabha suri of Kharatara-gaccha in his Katantra-Vibhrama-t ika (S. 1352/A.D. 1296), as of Siddhasena Divakara. The style, tone, proclivity, cadence and cunning doubtless are of Siddhasena Divakara. A diligent search inside the Jaina literature, particularly inside the agamic curnis, vrttis, tikas, and of course kathanakas, caritas, Prabandhas as well as subhasita-anthologies and works on poetics is likely to reward with the discovery of some more such stanzas. For Siddhasena's compositions glitter like jewel in any corner they lie hidden or undetected. They cannot be missed, nor can they be mistaken as anybody else's, by a perceptive eye. 1. Comp. Muni Shri Punyavijayji, Catalogue of Sanskrit and Prakrit Manuscripts Jesalmer Collection, L.D. Series, 36, Ahmedabad, 1972, p. 207 प्राचार्यरत्न श्री देशभूषण जी महाराज अभिनन्दन प्रन्थ