Amrita Collected Papers by A M Ghatage

SR No.: 006968
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi Ahmedabad
Total Pages: 530
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

Page 242

Parallel Passages in the Daśavaikälika and the Ācārānga
The chronology of the different books of the Ardha-Mägadhi canon is as yet unsettled except in a general way, by which some books like the Acaränga, Sütrakṛtānga are assigned to the oldest stratum while others like the metrical Painnas are said to form the latest additions. Other books are put in different places between these two extreme limits. When we come to decide more exactly the place of a particular book and its relative chronology with reference to some other work of the canon, we find that such general considerations are 'of no great use and the relative chronology of any two books of the canon or even parts of books must be decided by a close comparison of these works with each other, with a view to find out which is older and which is younger.
There are three chapters in the Daśavaikälika which have a very close parallel in three chapters of the second part of the Acaränga, from which an attempt can be made to decide the relative chronology of these two books of the canon. These parallel passages were already noted by W. Schubring and Patwardhan who have also concluded about their chronology. Schubring has expressed his opinion that the Daśavaikälika is younger of the two and naturally draws upon the passages of the Acäränga in writing its own chapters. Prof. Patwardhan has also come to the same conclusion and expresses it with greater conviction. Before, however, these conclusions can be accepted, it is necessary to go through their arguments and also to compare both the texts more closely.
The view that the chapters of the Daśavaikälika are younger and draw for their sources on the Acaränga appears to be based upon considerations of a general nature, that the latter work is older and that the Daśavaikälika is accepted by all to be a work of a compilatory character. Here it must be pointed out that both the parts of the Acäränga cannot claim the same.