Pravachanasara

SR No.: 003289
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram
Publication Year: 1964
Total Pages: 612
Language: Hindi, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_Devnagari
File Size: 16 MB

Page 126

Introduction
93
Dharmaśāstras that it is described. It is not at all improbable that the ascetic institution was purely Magadhan, rather current in Eastern India, since long time as the forerunner of Jaina and Buddhistic monachism. Dutta remarks "It seems reasonable that the condition of religious mendicancy developed on the Indian soil, and was not introduced into the country by the early Aryan settlers whose life and society are reflected to us from the Vedic mantras".1 In Pravacanasāra the monk is repeatedly designated as a Sramaņa, the meaning of which is already discussed above.2 Though originally it designated a Magadhan recluse, by the time of Kundakunda it appears to have been an exclusive appellation of Jaina monks, as it is clear from the South Indian usage of that word. It is possible that Megasthenes, in referring to Sarmanes, had in view the Jaina monks; the orientalists have detected that his designation of Gymnosophists was meant for Jaina ascetics; and the word Gymnetai used by Kleitarchos appears to be a corruption of Jaina-yati.
5. COMMENTATORS OF PRAVACANASĀRA
1. Amộtacandra and his Tattvadipikā AMŔTACANDRA AND HIS WORKS. - We know nothing about the personal life of Amộtacandra.4 He gives no information about himself in his works. The prasasti printed at the end has nothing to do with [p. 98:] Amrtacandra, but it belongs possibly to a scribe of a Ms. Āsādhara5 quotes a verse (No. 26) from P.-siddhyupāya with the phrase "etad anusāreņaiva Thakkuro' pidam apāthit', indicating thereby that Amộtacandra had perhaps another name Thakkura; or it might have been his surname in his family life as Thākūra or so. The source of Āsādhara's information, however, is not known to us. Only five works of Amệtacandra are available today: 1. Puruşārthasiddhyupāya, also known as Jina-pravacanarahasya-kosa, exhaustively deals with the duties of a house-holder in a highly philosophical tone. His explanations of Ahiņsā and the relation between the two Nayas are important contributions to the understanding of the subject. There is a freshness about his treatment, and some of his illustrations are original and striking; it is throughout written in Āryā metre. The text does not mention his name. 2. The second work is Tattvārthasāra which is a running metrical exposition of Tattvärthasūtra. Excepting the concluding verse, it is in Anustubh metre. The name of the author is not mentioned; but at the end of these two works the author happily expresses his modesty that the letters have formed the words, the words
1 Early Buddhist Monachism, p. 60. 2 See p. 83 above; also Dutta: Early B. Monachism pp. 41 etc. 3 Dutta: Early B. Monachism pp. 120 ff 4 For some notes on Amrtacandra see Peterson: Reports IV, p. ix; Jaina Hitaishi Vol.
ivx p. 255; some additional notes have been written by Pts. Premi and Jagadishacandra
in Jaina Jagat, the actual reference to which I have mislaid. 5 His commentary on (Anagāra) Dharmāmsta, p. 160, MDJG No. 14. 6 This and Tattvärthasära are published in SJG vol. I, the former is published in RJG with
Premi's Hindi translation.