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 254

Kundakunda and his Philosophy
It is further ascertained that Kundakunda belonged to the Mula or Dravida Sangha of the Jaina community and was possibly a Digambara, even though his traditional date goes back to the actual split of the Jaina Community into Svetambaras and Digambaras. According to the Pattavalis, which preserve the names of the teachers who succeeded Mahavira as the head of the Jaina Community, Kundakunda was born at about 52 B. C., took the pontiff's chair in 8 B. C., and lived a long life of 95 years. He is represented as succeeding Jinachandra I who is also taken to be his teacher. But this date is called in question by Dr. Pathak, who relies on the tradition preserved by Jayasena, according to which Kundakunda was a contemporary of a king known as Sivakumara Maharaja. He is identified by him, with the early Kadamba King Sri Vijaya Sivamrigesa who ruled in the fifth century A. D. in the western part of Mysore. Prof. Chakravarti, however, tries to confirm. the traditional date by identifying this king with the Pallava prince Sri Sivaskhandhavarman who ruled at Kanchi and issued the well-known Mayidavolu inscription.
245
From the traditional list of books attributed to Kundakunda it appears that he was a voluminous writer. These works come up to more than 50 different Pahudas of which about a dozen are available to us, and there is no apparent reason why the genuineness of his authorship of these works should be questioned. Of his other works, their bare names suggest to us nothing of their contents and authorship, and it remains doubtful whether they really existed or not, and if existed who was their author. It is just possible that when Kundakunda was recognized as a great writer of ancient times, many more works were fathered on him, so as to increase his greatness.
Of the existing works the most important are no doubt, the three Pahudas called Samayasara, Pravachanasara and Panchastikayasamayasara; all dealing with the main principles of Jaina philosophy. The Samayasara contains about 445 gäthās and deals with topics such as, views of oneself, views of others, the relation of the subject and the object, bondage, liberation and knowledge all pure. The style is logical and full of dialectical arguments used to prove the thesis. The Pravachanasara is the most popular of his works, and gives in three main divisions the most important of the Jaina doctrines. The first chapter, called the Jñänädhikāra, deals with knowledge and the nature of omniscience; the second Jñeyādhikara, summarises the metaphysical system of Jainism, while the last called Chariträdhikara deals with the ethical code of the Jaina monks, and the way to liberation. The work is found in two different recensions slightly differing from each other, one being shorter than