Dvadasharam Naychakram Part 1 Tika

Author(s): Mallavadi Kshamashraman, Sighsuri, Jambuvijay
Publisher: Atmanand Jain Sabha

Page 22

vehicle of becoming. Yet it is restricted to substance (dravyam) i. e, the pure process of becoming (niyamaḥ).
So far the contents of the present volume.
Already this short survey shows clearly Mallavādi's peculiar but also headstrong way of thinking. At the same time the reasons for his success as well as the later disappearance of his works reveal themselves. His entirely new way to see things had to baffle his opponents and at the same time helped him to get the upper hand in disputes. It was also the cause, however, for his works not to hold their ground. The traditional trends of thought as applied in the various systems, their attitude in seeing things, could not all of a sudden be deviated into new channels. Thus, Malla vādi and his works were soon consigned to oblivion. That is also why we find hardly any effect of his thoughts. Even the polemics of his opponents's schools do scarcely mention him.
Still, we can count him among the most peculiar, and from the standpoint of philosophy, most important teachers of the Svetāmbara sect, his works being of great interest even today. It is through his refashioning of the Naya doctrine that the problem can be seen from a new and more acute angle. There is one thing, however, that scores a special point of interest for his and Simhasūri's work: as mentioned, the bulk of it is dedicated to the polemics against other systems. Dating back to a time which is extremely lacking in information as to philosophical systems, it yields quite a number of news on authors and works of which we know very little indeed. To mention a few examples: numerous fragments are preserved in chapters one and eight of Mallavādi's work of Dignāga, the founder of the epistomological school of Budhism, whose works we only know in parts, and from Tibetan and Chinese translations. In the seventh chapter, for the first time, we come across a number of fragments of Rāvana's Katandi, the oldest known commentary to the Vaiseșika Sūtras. In the same chapter we also learn of lost works by Prasastapāda while the third chapter is one of the main sources for the classical Sāmkhya and the principal work of that school, the Şastitantram by Vrşagana. Malla vādi's Nayacakram with Simhasūri's commentary therefore, is important not only for Jainism, but also for the history of Indian philosophy in general. Its publication by means of a highly useful edition is therefore to be warmly welcomed.
How difficult this task was can only be valued by someone who has himself tried his hand at it. The only thing existent is Simhasūri's commentary which naturally takes Malla vâdi's original for granted, and is not understandable without it. Therefore it is imperial to reconstruct the original from Simhasūri. This is difficult and sometimes almost impossible, because as a rule Simhasūri quotes only the first and the last words of the sentence to be