Tattvartha Sutra

SR No.: 006796
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sukhlal Sanghavi, K K Dixit
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 596
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Tattvartha Sutra, & Tattvarth
File Size: 10 MB

Page 66

INTRODUCTION
(b) Gandhahastin
In the form of an author of a commentary or bhāsya on Vācaka Umāsvāti's Tattvārthasūtra two Gandhahastins are famous in the Jaina tradition. Of these, one is supposed to have been a Digambara master, the other a Svetāmbara one. Now the term 'gandhahastin' is an adjective. And this adjective is understood to have been borne by Samantabhadra, the famous scholar of the Digambara sect—so that the implied assertion is that Svāmisamantabhadra, who wrote Āptamīmāṁsā and who bore the title gandhahastin composed a commentary on Vācaka Umāsvāti's Tattvārthsūtra. On the other hand, in the Śvetāmbara sect the view is now current that Siddhasena Divākara, the disciple of Vrddhavādin, bore the adjective 'gandhahastin-so that the implied assertion is that Siddhasena Divākara, the author of Sanmati and the disciple of VỊddhavādin, composed a commentary on Vācaka Umāsvāti's Tattvārthsūtra. Both these understandings and the respective assertions implied by them lack authorization and so cannot be accepted. The adjective 'gandhahastin' is found attributed to a work by the Digambara master Samantabhadra—as can be clearly seen in LaghuSamantabhadra's Astasahasri-tippaņa. This Laghu-Samantabhadra? is understood to have been flourished nearabout the 14th-15th centuries A. D. But no definite proof corroborative of his present statement has yet been available. As a result of my up-to-date reading and reflection I have arrived at the conclusion that we have in the Digambara literature only stray references at places to bhāsya, at places to mahabhāsya, at places to Tattvārtha-bhāsya
1. In the old hymn 'Namotthunam'-famous as Sakrastava-the adjective ‘gandhahastin' has been assigned to the revered tirthankara by referring to him as 'Purisavaragamdhahatthinam.' And in the Digambara rocks-inscriptions belonging to the 10th 11th centuries of the Saka era an alias 'gandhahastin' is found to have been assigned to a valiant soldier. The name of a Jaina temple, too, is 'Savati gandha-vārana Jinālaya'; see Jaina-Śilālekha-Sangraha' edited by Dr. Hiralal Jain, pp. 113 and 129, Rock-inscriptions from the mountain Candragiri.
2. See Jugalkishoreji's Swāmi Samantabhadra, pp. 214-20.