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

Page 390

13. JAINISM AND OTHER FAITHS
371
As Purāņic deities, Śiva and Vişnu were equally reverenced in the Deccan, as elsewhere, a trend reflected in sculpture as well as literature. Among the few non-Jaina writers of the Rāştrakūta period, Trivikrama Bhatta, the author of Nalacampū, who lived in the early years of the tenth century, under Indra III, was a staunch adherent of the Saiva faith. The work is described in the colophons as 'imprinted with the lotus feet of Siva', and the concluding verse of each chapter contains a phrase expressive of devotion to Siva. The sixth chapter of Nalacampū contains. however, a fervent hymn to Vişņu; and this also reminds us of the fact that the opening verse of Rāştraküța grants offers salutation to Vişņu as well as Siva. Devotion to both the deities was part of the religious syncretism of the time, and shows the popularity and ascendancy of the Purāņic religion as a whole. But the evidence furnished by architecture and literary sources shows that, as an organised cult, Vaişņavism occupied a subsidiary position in the Deccan, and seems to have prevailed there in the shadow of Saivism for several centuries, say, from the eighth to the twelfth. The Vaişņava cult was hardly a rival of Jainism in the Deccan; and we find, accordingly, Jaina attacks levelled chiefly against Saivism, which was its greatest rival even before the rise of the Lingayats.
BUDDHISTS AND OTHER SECTS The Jainas had nothing but contempt for those communities who had no objection to taking flesh and wine. In Yasastilaka VI. 10 the Veda and the Buddhist and the Saiva scriptures are described as favouring the use of honey, flesh and wine. The Buddhists are particularly decried for not observing any restrictions in regard to food and drink. In Yasastilaka VI. 2 Somadeva asks: How can the wise respect the Buddhist who is addicted to flesh and wine?!
In another verse the Buddhist appears to be described as a votary of what is called advaita pure and simple. Somadeva seems to say that, excepting the Jaina doctrine, all other systems favour either the path of duality' (dvaita ) or that of non-duality' (advaita); and he illustrates his remarks by saying that the Mantrin or the Saiva mystic follows the Vāmamärga and the Daksinamärga, and the Brahmanical Scriptures lay stress on Karma and Jñāna, while those of the Buddhists merely prescribe
1 'sfatul 1: UCHIHIH17:' p. 296. 2 haftafanica
:' p. 276.