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## 58
**Sarvarthasiddhi**
This mention is clearly stated in the Tattvarthasutra by Gṛddhapichchācārya.
2. Ācārya Vidyānanda was also a great Śrutadhara Ācārya. He has enhanced the glory of Jain Śruta by composing many scriptures like Aṣṭasahasrī, Vidyānanda Mahodya, Āptaparīkṣā, Pramāṇaparīkṣā, Patraparīkṣā, Satyaśāsanaparīkṣā and Tattvārthaśloka Vārtika etc. His time of existence is considered to be from 775 AD (Śaka Samvat 697) to 840 AD (Śaka Samvat 762). He writes on page 6 of the printed Tattvārthaśloka Vārtika:
"Etena Gatapichchācāryaparyantamunisūtreṇa Vyabhicārata Nirastā."
By this, Ācārya Vidyānanda indicates that the last Sūtrakāra in the reign of Bhagavan Mahāvīra was Gṛddhapichchācārya.
Clearly, this mention indicates all the Sūtrakāras up to Ācārya Gṛddhapichchā, the author of Tattvārthasūtra. However, Paṇḍit Sukhlālji has doubts about this. He has expressed this doubt in the preface of his own written Tattvārthasūtra on pages 106-107. His doubt is particularly based on logic, so here we must first consider it from this perspective.
Paṇḍitji's argument is that the aforementioned second statement has come up in the discussion of inference that proves the point that the Sūtra on the path to liberation in the Tattvārthādhigama Śāstra is composed by the omniscient, dispassionate one. In this discussion of inference, the Sūtra on the path to liberation is the subject, the fact that it is composed by the omniscient, dispassionate one is the object to be proved, and the fact that it is a Sūtra is the reason. In refuting the fallacy of irrelevancy in this reason, Vidyānanda has made the statement "Etena" etc. The fallacy of irrelevancy is possible in a place different from the subject. The subject is the present Tattvārthasūtra on the path to liberation. From this, the Sūtra of the Munis up to Gṛddhapichchācārya, which is considered to be the subject of irrelevancy, should be different from the first Sūtra on the path to liberation, which is the subject of Umāsvāti, in the view of Vidyānanda. This point hardly needs to be explained to a student of Nyāya Vidya.
The essence of Paṇḍitji's logic-based statement is that the Sūtra of the Munis up to Gṛddhapichchācārya, which Ācārya Vidyānanda has mentioned here, is different from Umāsvāti's Tattvārthasūtra.
As far as Paṇḍitji's statement is concerned, we should not accuse it of being unreliable. However, if Paṇḍitji had paid attention to the subsidiary point raised by Ācārya Vidyānanda in the context of the aforementioned inference, we believe that he would not have tried to prove that the Sūtra of Gṛddhapichchācārya is different from the so-called Tattvārthasūtra of Umāsvāti.
The subsidiary point raised by Ācārya Vidyānanda is the refutation of the fallacy of irrelevancy by considering the Sūtra statements of Gaṇādhipa, Pratiyaka Buddha, Śruta Kevali and Abhinna Daśa Pūrvi as self-composed. It is clear that Gṛddhapichchācārya's Tattvārthasūtra is also included in this, because here it is considered to be different from the Sūtra composed by the omniscient, dispassionate one in some way (from the perspective that the author is Gṛddhapichchācārya). It would be particularly appropriate to clarify this matter in these words in the present context. In the present inference, the present Sūtra is the subject, the fact that it is composed by the omniscient, dispassionate one is the object to be proved, the fact that it is a Sūtra is the reason, the remaining Sūtra composed by the omniscient, dispassionate one is the similar subject, and the Sūtra of Bṛhaspati etc. is the dissimilar subject. By this inference, the Tattvārthasūtra has been proved to be composed by the omniscient, dispassionate one through the reason of its being a Sūtra. This proves that Ācārya Vidyānanda is not proving the Sūtra to be composed by Gṛddhapichchācārya here. He forgets the fact that from the perspective of being a Sūtra, it is composed by Gṛddhapichchācārya. He says that it is composed by the omniscient, dispassionate one, therefore it is a Sūtra.
However, if someone says that this Tattvārthasūtra is not composed by the omniscient, dispassionate one but by Gṛddhapichchācārya,
1. See the preface of Āptaparīkṣā edited by Nyāyācārya Paṇḍit Darbārilālji and published by Vīrasevamandīra, page 50.