Svasti

SR No.: 007006
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nalini Balbir
Publisher: K S Muddappa Smaraka Trust
Publication Year: 2010
Total Pages: 446
Language: English, Hindi
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 16 MB

Page 86

The Date of Vidyananda
Literary and Epigraphical Evidence
7
M.A. DHAKY
Vidyananda and Manikyanandi (the latter of the Parikṣämukha fame), the pontiffs of the Southern Church, along with Siddharși (active c. AD 890-920)' of the Northern Church, belong to the last batch of the great epistemologists within the ambit of the Brhad-Nirgrantha tradition. Vidyananda's known works, some of which are famous, are the Tattvärtha-sloka-värttika, the Aṣṭasahasri,' the Yuktyanusäsanālankāra," the Vidyānanda-mahodaya," the Apta-parīkṣā," the Pramāṇa-parīkṣā,' the Pātra-parīkṣā, the Satyasasana-parīkṣā," and the Śrīpura-Pārsvanatha-stotra.10
The writers of this century for long had been placing him between the last quarter of the eighth and the first quarter of the ninth century A.D. and thus to the pre-medieval
[Earlier published in the Nirgrantha, Vol.2, Ahmedabad 1996, pp. 25-28 and available on Jain ELibrary. See these places for the genealogical table which could not be reprinted here].
1 Siddharsi's most famous works are the Upamitibhavaprapañca-katha (Sanskrit) (A.D. 905) and at commentary in Sanskrit (c. A.D. 900) on the Upadesamālā of Sanghadāsa gani (c. mid-6th cent. A.D) Recently, I have shown that the Nyāyāvatāra, a famous Dvātrimśikā in Sanskrit on the Nirgranthapramāṇaśāstra, is not the work of Siddhasena Divakara (c. A.D. 400-444) as had been held by many but could be of Siddharși: (Cf. "The Date and Authorship of Nyāyāvatāra", Nirgrantha 1, Ahmedabad 1996). The Sakrastava may also be added as Siddharsi's work, though hitherto steadfastly, insistently, though wrongly attributed to Siddhasena Divākara.
2 This is a further commentary on the Southern adoption of the Tattvärthadhigama-sūtra of Umāsvāti (c. A.D. 350-373), the latter work is called Tattvärtha-sutra in the fold of the Digambara Jaina sect. The author of the Digambara version is from early 16th century called 'Umāsvāmi'.
3 This is an enlarged commentary incorporating the Aṣṭasati of Bhaṭṭa Akalankadeva (active c. A.D. 730780) on the Aptamimāmsā of Samantabhadra (c. A.D. 550-600).
* The work is a commentary on the Yuktyanusāsana of Samantabhadra.
5 Vidyananda has referred to this work in his Tattvārtha-śloka-vārttika and in the Aṣṭasahasrī. The work till now is unavailable.
6 The work seemingly was inspired by the inaugural verse of the Sarvarthasiddhi-ṭīkā on the Tattvārthasūtra by Pujyapada Devanandi (active c. A.D. 635-680).
'Probably inspired by Akalankadeva's Pramāṇa-Sangraha as well as, plausibly, some other works of a few preceding authors.
It embodies a critical analysis on the characteristics of 'patra'.
9 The work compares the epistemological stands of other philosophical schools with that of the Nirgrantha. Ed. Gokul Chandra Jain, JMJSGSG No. 30, Calcutta-Varanasi-Delhi 1964. The information in annotations 1-9, 11, and 12 in this article has been abstracted from Gokul Chandra's "Introduction" in Hindi of the same work, pp. 32-34.
10 This is a hymn addressed to Jina Parsva of Śrīpura. The latter place was a tīrtha in that period, situated as it probably was somewhere in Karnataka.