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INTRODUCTORY Gani in his commentaries. On the other hand, he should be anterior to Ācārya Haribhadra who quotes at length from the Cūrnis of Jinadāsa in the Vịtti on Āvzlyaka,' The period assigned to Ācārya Jinabha Ira is somewhere between Vikrama Samvat 600-660,2 while Acārya Haribha ira flourished in Vikrama Samvat 757 to 827.3 Deductions from these lead us to believe that Jinadasa Gani must have flourished sometime between Vikrama Sanvat 650-750. The date prescribed in many of the old Mss. of the Nandi Cūrni, as noted above, is Vikrama Sanyat 733, i.e. Śaka 598, or A. D. 676. The faisalamera Bhan lara Saci mentions the date of the Niśitha Curņi as Vikrama Saṁvat 733. Besides, Jinadāsa in the Nišitha Carni refers to the coins of Varmalata (Vammalata) which were used in Bhillamála (Bhinmal) during his time. An inscription of king Varmalata belonging to the last quarter of the 7th century of the Vikrama era has been recently found near Vasantagadha, 6 Jinadāsa Gani, therefore, should have belonged to a period when the coins issued by king Varmalāta were in circulation. Thus, keeping in view these various evidences it may be safely concluded that Jinadāsa Gaại flourished during the last quarter of the 7th century A. D. Geographical background of the NC.
It is perhaps more difficult to ascertain the place from where Jinadasa Gani hailed. In the context of Kșetrasamstava in the NC. the author has mentioned the name of Kuruksetra? instead of any other region. Pt. Malvania thus in his intro1. विक्रमसंवत् ७३३ वर्ष रचिताया निशीथचूण्ा अवतरणानि हरिभद्रसूरी आवश्यकवृत्तौ
Frid-Jaisalamera Bha.dāra Suci, Baroda; also Jaina Sahitya Samsodhaka ( Ahmedabad ), 1.1, p. 50. 2. Gaładharavāda, Pre face pp. 32-33; Mehta, op. cit., p. 291. 3. Jaina Āgama, p. 29; also Mehta, loc. cit. 4. See above note 1. 5. In the present edition of the NC. the text runs as agt MESAS
TFT-NO. 2, p. 95. But according to Pt. Kalyānavijaya, the text found in the other Mss. of the NC. is STET CHEAT FHOTTT which
seems to be more authentic.--Prabandha Pārijāta, pp. 18-19. 6. Ibid. 7. NC. 2, pp. 108, 110.
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