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THE DATE OF KUNDAKUNDACARYA
M. A. Dhaky
Back in 1935, A. N. Upadhye fixed the date of the illustrious Acarya Padmanandi of the anvaya or monastic order Kondakunda of the Southern Nirgrantha (Digambara) Church at the beginning of the Christian Era.1 The current Digambara Jaina scholarship by and large accepts this date, or perhaps its alternative the third century of Vikrama Era (c. A.D. 146-243) determined by Pt. Kailashchandra Shastri". This is regarded by many as definite, virtually an invarial temporal bracket for Acārya Padmanandi, more widely known by the alias Koṇḍakundācārya (after his anvaya) and still more after the anvaya's Sanskritised form, Kundakundācārya, since late medieval times. A few Western scholars who had an occasion to refer to him, his works, or thinking, in general seem to regard him as an early Jaina philosopher and religious teacher."
The contemporary Svetämbara Jaina writers,-late Muni Kalyanvijaya, late Pt. Sukhlal Sanghvis, Pt. Dalsukh Malvania", and no less poignantly K. K. Dixit"-on the grounds of the content of his works, were not convinced of such an early date for Kundakundäcārya. They felt more secure with fifth, or still better with the sixth. century as the chronal zone, and preferably posterior to Umäsvati (c. A. D. 375-400) as well as Siddhasena Diväkara (c. active first half of the 5th cent. A. D.)". A re-examination of the various facets of the problem in somewhat deeper depth. for refixing Kundakundacārya's date in light of the potential directions inherent (but hitherto ignored) in the available evidence is therefore in order. In the process, the premises on which the different writers earlier suggested the plausible (but differing) dates for Acarya Kundakunda will also be reviewed and tested vis-avis the known evidence.
I shall begin with the review of the external evidence-direct, negative, or inferential.
1. Acarya Padmanandi is not referred to, nor is the influence of his "original" teachings (embodied particularly in his celebrated work, the Samaya-pāhuḍa) anywhere overtly, clearly, or even indirectly implied in the writings of the pre-medieval Digambara Jaina thinkers, epistemologists, and scholiasts like Svami Samantabhadra (active c. A. D. 575-625), Pujyapada Devanandi (active c. A. D. 635-685)10, and Bhatta Akalankadeva (c. A. D. 720-780)11, the trio held in the highest esteem in the Digambara Church.13 The contemporaneous Svetämbara Jaina writers of equal stature, -Mallavādi kṣamāśramana (c. A. D. 525-575)13, Jinabhadra gani kṣamāśramana (active c. A. D. 550-594), Simhaśūra kṣamäśramaņa (c. latter half of the 7th cent. A. D.), Gandhahasti Siddhasena (c. A. D. 725-770) and Yakintsunu Haribhadra Süri (active c. A. D. 740-785), the latter two authors being aware of the
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