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period of composition is difficult to say in the absence of any concrete evidence.
Many verses of Mahapratyākhyāna Prakīrṇaka are found in as ancient a canonical work as the Uttaradhyayana as well as in Niryuktis such as Avasyaka-Niryukti, Uttara– dhyayana-Niryukti, Ogha-Niryukti and in other Prakīrnakas such as Maranavibhakti, Āturapratyākhyāna, Candravedhyaka, Ttthogāli, Samstāraka, Ārādhanāpatākā, and Ārādhanāprakaraṇa, etc. Besides these works of the Śvetāmbara tradition, they are also found in the works of the Digambara Yapaniya traditions such as Bhagavatīārādhanā, Mūlācāra, Niyamasāra, Samayasāra, Bhāvapāhuda, etc. All these works are of a period between the 5th and the 6th century AD. However, it is difficult to judge as to whether these verses were taken from these other works into the Mahāpratyākhyāna Prakīrṇaka or vice-versa. Even then it can be believed that these verses had found their way into the works of a later origin than that of the Nandisutra, from Mahāpratyākhyāna Prakīrṇaka only. Specially, the verses of Mahapratyākhyāna, available in Bhagavati-ārādhanā, Mūlācāra, etc, must have, directly or indirectly, been taken from Mahāpratyākhyāna only. Even the availability of its palm-leaf manuscripts show that this work is of a sufficiently ancient origin.
To consider the period of composition of Mahāpratyākhyāna Prakīrṇaka, another important evidence in front of us is the fact that the set of twelve primary canons (Dvādaśa Śruta-skandha) has been mentioned in this work." It means that by the time this work came into being the set of twelve primary
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PREFACE : XXXIII
Mahapratyakhyāna Prakīrṇaka, verse 102.
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