Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

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YASASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE
Lokāgata system. There is no trace of any such bitterness against the Mimāṁsā in Somadeva's Yas'astilaka, as we find here the Saivas replacing the Mimāṁsakas as adversaries of Jaina doctrines.
The controversy about omniscience was further complicated by the Naiyāyikas entering the lists in defence of the doctrine. Like the Buddhists and the Jainas, they upheld the theory of omniscience as against the Mimāṁsakas; and we find, for instance, Jayanta quoting and criticising Kumārila's views in his Nyāyamañjari (chap. 2) and establishing the theory that the adepts in Yoga possess the unhampered faculty of pure and universal knowledge. The Naiyāyikas, however, declare God to be the omniscient creator of the universe and the author of the Vedas. Vātsyāyana, indeed, attributes the authorship of the Vedas to trustworthy persons' (Aptāḥ) in his Bhāșya on Nyāyasūtras 2, 1. 68, and does not say that God is their author. Uddyotakara in his Nyāyavārtika calls the author of the Vedas a superior individual (Puruşa-višeşa), which might mean God, this being the designation applied to God in Yogasutras 1. 24. The later exponents of the Nyāya system, Jayanta, Vācaspati and Udayana, however, maintain that the omniscient God is the creator of the universe as well as the author of the Vedas. Jayanta, for example, says in his Nyāyamañjari (chap. 4):
mal aga parafernalinga formatars: 1
विश्वात्मना तदुपदेशपराः प्रणीतास्तेनैव वेदरचना इति युक्तमेतत् ॥
The Mimāṁsā objections to the Nyāya conception of an omniscient Creator are fully stated in Mandana's Vidhiviveka (P.210 ff.): A later writer Sālikānātha, an authoritative exponent of the Prābhākara school of Mimāṁsā, tries to refute the theory of the omniscience of God in Prakaranapañcikā (chap. 7). He argues that it is the cycle of tradition (vrddha-paramparā), without any beginning, that fixes the meaning of words and not the significance supposed to be attached to them by God at the beginning of creation. Further, the idea of personal authorship is not compatible with the authoritative character of the Veda which deals with supernormal things. Sālikānātha probably belongs to the tenth century, but in this century the position of the Nyāya-vaiseșika school was so strong that
1 अर्वाकालिकमेतद्धि मीमांसकपुर मतम् । तेन दर्शनसंख्यायामेतलोकैर्न गण्यते । 2 तदेवं क्षीणदोषाणां ध्यानावहितचेतसाम् । निर्मलं सर्वविषयं ज्ञानं भवति योगिनाम् ।। 3 Cf. Handiqui: Naişadhacarita, Appendix I, p. 505. 4 'न चेश्वरस्य सर्वज्ञानमपि सिध्यति शानहेत्वभावेन ज्ञानाभावनिश्चयात् । तेनानादिरेव वृद्धपरम्परा शब्दार्थावगमे हेतुर्म
सृष्टयादावीश्वरकृतः सङ्केतः। ........."एवं पुरुषस्य धर्मप्रतीति प्रति शब्दमन्तरेणोपायाभावान्न, पौरुषेयत्वे वेदस्यापूर्वात्मके
वेदार्थे प्रामाण्योपपत्तिरित्यपौरुषेयत्वाश्रयणम् ।' 5 G, N, Kaviraja: Introduction to Kusumāñjalibodhani (Sarasvati Bhavana Texle).