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 128

Introduction
95
than a prose writer; to this even a few verses in his commentary on Pravacanasāra bear witness. As a spiritual poet (adhyātma-kavi) his position is simply unique and unequalled by any Jaina author before or after him. His Samayasāra-kalasa is a veritable mine of finely phrased and carefully polished melodious verses containing the essence of Atmavidyā; it has left lasting influence on some of the later authors like Padmaprabhadeva; and the subject matter is discussed with such a dignity in suitable metres that this compilation is enough to commemorate the poetic talents of Amrtacandra.
QUOTATIONS IN HIS TATTVADĪPIKĀ.-There are only five quotations in his Pravacanasāra-commentary. The verse ānandāmsta etc. is introduced with the phrase 'bhavati cātra slokaḥ'; this use of the singular, though there are two more verses coming after that, shows that it is perhaps a quotation; but I have not been able to trace it anywhere. Taking together two more quotations, jāvadiyā vayaņa-vahā and para-sama yānam, which are quoted one after the other, they are found in the same order in Gommatasāra (Karma-kānda 894-5), and there is practical agreement between the readings. Their consecutive position and verbal agreement tempt one to suggest that Amộtacandra might have taken them from Gõmmațasāra; but one cannot be dogmatic on this point, because Gommatasāra is a work of compilatory character; and there is every possibility of these gāthās being found in Dhayalā and Jayadhavală commentaries. The first gāthā is found in Sanmati-prakaraṇa of Siddhasena (III, 47), but Amộtacandra, though acquainted with the works of Siddhasena, does not appear to have quoted it from that source for the following reasons: [p. 100:] first, the gāthā as given by Siddhasena has Māhārāstri features, but here it is decidedly in Sauraseni; secondly, Amrtacandra quotes these two verses together, while Siddhasena has only one.1 Then the remaining two quotations, Riddhā Riddhena and niddhassa niddhena, are found in Gommațasāra (611-14), though not consecutively as quoted here, in the same order with the intervention of two gāthās in the middle. The dialectal appearance also agrees, but we should not be dogmatic. niddhassa niddhena is a very old gāthā; it is quoted in Sarvārthasiddhi (V, 37, there dh is retained for h)2 of Pujyapāda; following him Akalanka quotes it in Rājavārtika (where dh is changed to h); with slight variants it is quoted in Bhāşya-vrtti (V, 35) of Siddhasenagaņi; and further from an editorial note3 thereon I find that the gāthā is traceable to Pannavaņā-sutta of the Svetāmbara canon. This again brings us to the same conclusion that it is a traditional verse independently preserved by both the sections.
DATE OF AMŔTACANDRA.-There is very scanty material for settling the date of Amrtacandra. I have not been able to trace his name in any of the Jaina
1 javaiyā etc. alone is quoted in Jayadhavala (p. 28 of Sholapur MS.). Judging from the
context and the dialectal appearance, it appears to be quoted there from Sanmatiprakarana. Jayadhavală is the name of the last form of the commentary which incorporates older portions, so this gāthā might belong to the last stratum. There is every possibility of
tracing this gātha in still earlier tracts of literature. 2 Much importance should not be attached to these variants, because none of these edi
tions is critical. 3 Āgamodaya Samiti Ed. Vol. I, p. 425.