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57
He has included both the rights of Sallekhana and images in the same chapter. But whatever it may be, this third characteristic is also worthy of objection. Thus. This commentary is made by Acharya Prabhachandra. But there is no praise of Prabhachandra in the commentary, nor is the time of its creation given, nor has the commentator mentioned the name of his guru anywhere. In such a situation, it is natural to ask who made this commentary and when it was made; and it is certainly worthy of consideration here; because there have been dozens of Acharyas named Prabhachandra in the Jain community, of whom some - whose general introduction or address we have been able to research so far - are as follows:
(1) Prabhachandra, whose mention is found in the first inscription of Shravanabelagola, and who is said to be the disciple of Emperor Chandragupta, the disciple of Bhadrabahu Shrutakevali.
(2) Prabhachandra, whose mention is found in the sutra 'Ratreh Kriti Prabhachandrasya' of Jainendra Grammar written by Shri Pujyapada.
(3) Prabhachandra, whose mention is found in the 'Gurvavali' of Shubhachandracharya published in the 4th Kiran of Jain Siddhanta Bhaskar and in the list of Acharyas in 'Nandisangha's Padyaavali', after 'Lokachand' and before 'Nemichand'. Along with this, the time of his being established on the pattavali is also given as VS 453. If this time is correct, then the second Prabhachandra and these two may also be one person.
* In 1921-22, some scholars had discussed the subject of the authorship of this commentary, and many articles were published in the Jainmitra, Jain Siddhanta, Jainbodhak and Jain Hitechchu newspapers under headings like 'How many Prabhachandras are there'. The number of scholars named Prabhachandra published in those articles was probably not more than five.
This mention is also found in 'Gurvavali' and 'Pattavali' published in Jain Hiteishi, Part Six, Issue 7-8.