________________
| 26 | Influence of Jainism on Tibetan Literature
Advayavajra is one of the celebrated authors of Vajrayana Buddhism. He is also known as Avadhati-pa. In Tibetan Tangyur many other epithets are given about him, such as, Pandita, Maha Pandita, Brahmana, Acharya, Mahacharya, Avadhuta, Upadhyaya, Bangalee etc. "Advayavajra has above twenty two (22) works translated in the Bstan - gyur, but some of these works are also available in Sanskrit. Twenty two (22) small Vajrayanist tracts of his are edited by H.P. Shastri in the Advayavajra Samgraha."! In the above mentioned sangraha, there is a very small tract or Ireatisc of only twenty (20) slokas named mayanirukti. The colophon is silent about its author, but the Tibetan translation attributes its authorship to Advayavajra and translation to Upadhyay Vajrapani. “Though Advayavajra is a famous and celebrated Vajrayanist author, his date is difficult to ascertain and this difficulty has been made more complicated by the supposition of the existence of more than one Advayavajra. "2 Without entering into controversy whether there was one or more than one Advayavajra. It is better to conclude that the Vajarayanist author Advayavajra flourished during the latter half of the Pala period. More precisely during the 11th century A.D. After a little digression let us concentrate upon the subject matter of "mayamukti" to have a glimpse of the religious condition of that age. In his introduction to Advayavajra - samgraha. H.P. Shastri states that he does not venture to give an English translation of the work for several reasons : because the readings in many places so hopelessly corrupt that nothing can be made out of it: the sentences are so elliptical that it is difficult to make a gramatical construction. H.P. Shastri further comments that Advayavajra himself hated diffuseness and was a lover of brevity and in making his works brief he had made them enigmatical. In spite of all these difficulties, H.P. Shastri has rendered a great service to the students and scholars of Indology by writing the summary of each of the tracts or treatises included to the celebrated collection: Advayavajra - sangraha.
1 2 3
R.C. Mazumder, History of Bengal. p. 406 f.n. 158. lbid. N.N. Dasgupta, Baglay Banddatharana. p. 74 B. Bhattacharya, Indian. Buddhist Iconography p. 48.
Ref. Vol. XV Ch. 117 E Pg. 6873-6878
335
Influence of Jainism on Tibetan Literature
