Devindatthao Devendrastava

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

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PREFACE :XLI tradition believed that they happened together. The earliest attempt to reconcile this difference was made by Ācārya Siddhasena in his work entitled Sanmati-tarka! The author of Devendrastava has emphatically said that these two forms of perceptions occur to the Kevalis only one at a time and not both of them together. From this it appears that the other belief was there in front of him. However, if the other belief was present in front of him, he would have mentioned it earlier and then refuting its contention established his own, as was the general practice of refutation of wrong beliefs and establishment of the right ones at the time. However, he didn't do so. Again, the belief of their serial occurrence is older and āgamic. It is possible that at the time of composition of Devendrastava the dispute had just started and, therefore its author stated his belief so emphatically.
Therefore, Devendrastava cannot be considered as of a later period only on the basis of the presence of this āgamic belief in it as it had already come into being in the āgamic period. Also, it does not have to be viewed in the context of the dispute at all, which for all purposes may have either just started or started much after the period of its composition. Again, all the verses describing the attributes of the Siddhas are invariably found in the Prajñāpana and Devendrastava identically. Only this verse is not found in the Prajñāpana. It is, therefore, possible that this verse may have been added to the text of Devendrastava at a later date when this dispute had gained ground. Moreover, the detailed descriptions about the heavenly gods in this work also contain some details, which are found in the Hindu and Buddhist works of the time. We shall discuss these details when we present their comparative analysis while discussing the subject matter of Devendrastava.