Sacred Literature of Jains

SR No.: 006969
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Ganeshchandra Lalwani, Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Jain Bhawan
Publication Year: 1999
Total Pages: 250
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

Page 103

SACRED LITERATURE OF THE JAINS
So much is clear :-That that conception which limits the ditthivāa to the 14 puvvas alone is too narrow. We find a recognition of the other constituent parts of the digthivaa also in those statements of the scholia, in which (cf. p. 258) "pūrvāņi sammaty-adikāś ca” (anuyogaḥ) are mentioned instead of the ditthivaa referred to in the text. See Av. nijj. 8, 54. By saṁmatyädikaḥ (anuy ) we are probably to understand the first parts of anga 12, though the order has been inverted.477
[348] To the statements made, p. 212 foll., in reference to the gradual decline of the knowledge of the purvas, I add the following: - In the Kalasattarī of Dhammaghosa478 verse 38 foll., Thulabhadda is referred to the year Vira 215; and there still existed in the time of Vaira 584 (Vira) 10, in that of Dubbalia 616 (Vira), 94 puvvas. In the scholiast on the passage and in KL 247" the latter name is cited as Durbalika-Puspa ('$ya)mitra ; in the Berlin scholiast on the Nandi, introduct. v. 32, as Durvalikāpuspa (sya), he and his teacher Aryarakşita being called the two nayapūrvinau. In the year 1000 the entire puvvagayam was "gayam".
Let us now turn to the locus classicus itself. Its statements are unfortunately not clear and in fact were unintelligible to the scholiasts of both texts (Abhayadeva on anga 4, and Anon. on Nandi). They both assert with tolerable unanimity that, inasmuch as the text itself was no longer extant, they merely report the few utterances of tradition. Abhayadeva has the foll, at the beginning of his remarks : sarvam idam prāyo vyavachinnaṁ tathā' pi yathāpiştaṁ (! dựstaṁ ?) kimcit likhyate; and the anonymous scholiast on N. has : s. i. pr. vy. tatha 'pi leśato yathāgatasampradayam kiscid vyākhyāyate. In explaining the first part Abhayadeva says : etac ca sarvaṁ samülottarabhedaṁ sūtrārthato vyavachinna and the anon. schol. :-tāni ca samülottarabhedāni sakalāny api sūtrato'rthataś ca [319) vyavachinnāni yathāgatasampradiyataś ca darsitāni. Finally, Abhayadeva expresses himself in a similar manner concerning the second part : amūny api sūtrarthato vyavachinnäni tathā 'pi drțābusārataḥ kimcitlikhyate, and the anon.
477 Sammati 1) "opinion", "view", in the St. Petersb. Dict., i. e. synonymous with
drsti. Leumann tells me that Silānka, too, on anga 1, 1, 8, refers to sammat yādau a discussion on the 7 nayas (see below p 352), and was in possession of a text of
that name before him ; cf. also the sammativytti, below p. 371. 478 Dhammaghosasūri, scholar (v. 74) of Deviņda, died accord. to Kl. 255a Samvat
1357. This does not agree with Kālas. v. 41 foll. where in general the same prophetic statements are found as in Satrunj. Mah. 14, 290 foll. (See my Treatise. D. 47). These statements contain the dates 1912 and 1850 Vira (ie. Samyat 1442 and 1380).