Gandharavada

Author(s): Esther A Solomon
Publisher: Gujarat Vidyasabha

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Jinabhadra has himself commented upon his own Viseșăvasyaka Bhasya, but he could not complete his commentary on account of his death. He could comment only up to 1863 verses i. e. up to the account of the sixth ganadhara. This commentary has been recently discovered by Muni Śri Punyavijayaji; Acarya Kottarya completed the commentary (See his comm. on Gatha 1863). Another commentary on the Gaṇadharavada is by Kotyacarya, and a third by Maladhari Hemacandra. Of these the last is the most lucid and illuminating. Hence the incorporation of this commentary in the body of this text.
BHADRABAHU
Before we come to the main subject, Višesa vasyaka-bhāṣya, of which Ganadharavada is a part, and its author Jinabhadra, we may say a few words about Bhadrababu, the author of the Avasyaka-niryukti, an cpi ode in which is used by Jinabbadra as a peg to hang his philosophical dissertation on, for the purpose of propounding the Jaina system of philosophy.
In India the misfortune is that there are a number of persons known by the same name (e g. many Kalidasas) and the events of the life of one man are mixed up with those of another. Kalidasa may be represented as having died in the house of a courtesan in Ceylon ard also be said to have been familiar with Kashmir, or to have lived in the times of Vikramaditya and to have been present at the court of king Bhoja! What a mockery of historical facts! The same is the case with Bhadrababu Many Acaryas bearing the name Bhadrabāhu existed, and still all the niryuktis (commentaries) were ascribed to Bhadrababu who according to tradition was the last acarya to know all the 14 Purvas (old texts) but who, it is said, went to Nepal for yogic practice and so could impart the knowledge of only 10 Purvas to Sthulabhadra who went to him. His date may roughly be fixed at 170 B. C. But Muni