Agam 30 Prakirnak 07 Candavejjhayam Sutra

Author(s): D S Baya
Publisher: Agam Ahimsa Samta Evam Prakrit Samsthan

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PREFACE : XXVII
indication that it was composed by some elder monk (Sthavira) of the 5th century A.D. or earlier. As no specific information is available, it is difficult to say anything conclusive about its authorship.
As for the question of the period of its composition is concerned, we can at least say this much with certainty that it is a composition of a period earlier than the 5th century AD, because, besides the Nandīsūtra and the Pākṣikasūtra, the mention of Candravedhyaka is available in Nandīcūrņi, Āvaśyakacūrni and Niśīthacūrņi. The period of the composition of cūrņis is taken as the 7th century AD. Therefore, the period of Candravedhyaka's creation ought to be before that period. Its mention in the texts of the Nandi and the Pākşikasūtras indicate that it was composed even before the composition of these two works. The author of the Nandīsūtra is taken to be Devavācaka. The period of Nandīsū tra and its author, Devavācaka, has been specifically discussed by Muni Punyavijaiji and Pt. Dalsukhbhai Malavaniya. In Nandīcā rņi, Devavācaka has been said to be the disciple of Dūșyaganī. Some learned exponents have been under the illusion that Devavā caka and Devardhigani Kșamāśramaņa who presided over the Valabhi conclave inwhich the Ardhamāgadhī canonical texts took their present book-form, to be the one and the same person. Muni Kalyanavijaiji has also fallen a prey to this illusion. But, according to the available mentions, the former was the disciple of Dūșyagani while the latter was that of Arya Sandilya. Therefore, it is certain that the two are not the one and the same person. Devavācaka has clearly mentioned Dūşyaganī as his guru in the roll of elder monks (sthavirāvalī) in the Nandīsūtra.
Pt. Dalsukhbhai Malavaniya has taken the upper limit of Devavācaka's period as 1020 Vīrābda (Reckoned from the Nirvana of Lord Mahāvīra) i.e. the year 550 of the Vikrami era, so Devavācaka must have been before that period. Nandi and