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 80

Introduction
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evaluation of Jainism as a system. Some of his conclusions were so striking that they received almost immediate attention of and were searchingly scrutinised and criticised by Dr. Jacobil; and so far as I know, his criticism never appears to have been replied to by Bhandarkar; perhaps, he had no immediate occasion for that. Further Pravacanasära finds place in Strassburg collection of Digambara MSS., and is consequently noticed by Leumann.2 Pischel, in his comparative grammar of Prakrit dialects, 3 took a grammatical notice of the găthās quoted by Bhandarkar and came to the conclusion that the dialect should be designated as Jaina Sauraseni. Later on, since its publication,4 [p. 50:] Pravacanasära invariably finds place in the list of important works of Jainism.
b) The Text of Pravacanasāra TEXT INFLUENCED BY THE COMMENTARY.-Manuscripts of Pravacanasāra generally contain one or the other commentary along with the text for various reasons: among the Digambaras the practice of studying Prakrit gāthās unaided by a Sk-gloss has fallen out of use since long; the text as a whole is too difficult to be understood without a commentary; and lastly, there is already the bias that an authoritative work like Pravacanasāra should be studied with the help of a commentary, if a direct teacher is not available. Even if some MSS. without a commentary are available, they are so late in age that there is every possibility of their being copied from some MS. with a commentary.
TWO RECENSIONS OF THE TEXT.-The text of Pravacanasāra is preserved in two recensions, one along with the commentary of Amstacandra and the other adopted by Jayasena and other commentators. According to Amstancandra it contains 275 gāthās divided into three Srutaskandhas, each dealing with Jñāna-tattva, Jñeya-tattva and Caraņa-tattva and containing 92, 108, and 75 gāthās respectively. Jayasena, however, adopts the three divisions, calling them adhikāras, following Amrtacandra whose commentay was already before him when he wrote his; but according to him the number of gāthās is larger and comes to 311, each adhikāra containing 101, 113 and 97 gāthās respectively. Thus it is clear that the recension of Amrtacandra is shorter in each section, and of this Jayasena is quite aware.?
1 SBE, XLV, Introduction p. 35 etc. 2 Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Vol. XI, pp. 297-312. 3 Grammatik der Prākrit-Sprachen in the Grundriss etc. Strassburg, 1900. 4 Edited in RJS, samvat 1969; published with Br. Shitalprasada's Hindi translation of Jaya
sena's commentary in three vols. Vīra samvat 2450-52, Surat; an English translation of Pravacanasära was promised by the Jaina Literature Society, London, but is not published
as yet. [Since published). 5 Dr. Winternitz (Indian Literature, II, p. 576) describes Pravacanasära as a 'much prized
book on Jinistic dogmatics, psychology and ethics'. Prof. A. B. Dhruva (his Introduction to Syödvädamasjari in Bombay, Sk. and Pk. series, p 80) describes it as 'a comprehensive
survey of Jainism.' 6 This Śrutaskandha division reminds us of similar divisions in Acāränga and Sütrakstānga
etc. of the Svetămbara canon. 7 See below the discussion about Jayasena's commentary.