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

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Amrita
the other. The shorter one is found commented on by Amrtchandra while jayasena gives the longer one. Less philosophical and more schematic is the third Pahuda, which professes to give in a summary for the information about the five Astikāyas so well-known in Jaina philosophy. The major portion of the work, however, is devoted to the description of the Jivāstikāya which occupies the most important place among them all. It contains 180 Gāthās. Of the lesser works, the Satpahuda is a collection of six small tracts dealing with Darśana, Sūtra, Charitra, Bodhi, Bhava and Moksa. His other works are the Rayanasāra giving information on a variety of topics, Barahanuvekkha, dealing with the twelve philosophical reflections, and the Niyamasara, which also covers nearly the whole of Jaina philosophy.
It is to be noted that all these works are written in a Prākrit language which is designated by Pischel as Jaina Sauraseni, and is known by that name to modern scholars. Philologically viewed, it appears to be a mixture of Ardha-Māgadhi and Sauraseni. It has the peculiar Sauraseni changes like the change of a to & and to 4 and Ardha-Māgadhi forms like digal and TE. It can well be called Jaina Sauraseni, if we mean by that the Sauraseni language used by the earlier Jaina writers and influenced by their canonical speech, as we understand the parallel expression Jaina Māhārāstrī applied to the language of the Post canonical Prākrit literature of the Svetambara writers. The fact that this language was used by the Jaina writers alone and that also in the South India makes it probable that it was only a literary language and not a vernacular of the country in which it was used.
In giving the philosophical views of Kundakunda, it will be convenient to state at the beginning that what is tried here is not an epitome of his great works. Such an undertaking will include nearly all the details of the Jaina philosophy, as the works of Kundakunda are a storehouse of information on nearly all the points of the Jaina philosophy. Nor will such a description differ from the general outline of Jaina philosophy as found in other works, or even from that of the Ardha-Māgadhi canon to a very great extent. What is to be traced here, is only the distinctive feature of the handling of Jainism at the hands of Kundakunda, and his personal contributions to it.
To begin with, it will be profitable to start with his method of philosophising which is of great service in knowing the personality of an author. The method of the Jaina canon and the books mainly dependent on it, is purely dogmatic. The doctrine is stated with much repetition and emphasis, and the explanation mostly consists in giving the divisions and