Gandharavada

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

Page 34

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Agamas to Jambū, t we do not find any record in the Agamas of Sudharma having asked Mahāvira any question and of the latter's reply. Bhagavati Sūtra notes a few questions asked by Agnibhūti, Väyubhūti 1 and Mandiyaputta. * Arya Sudharman's description is exactly like that of Indrabhūti's.
But it may be noted that nowhere in the Agamas do we find any reference to the doubts of the gañadbaras and their questions as detailed in the Ganadharavāda. We find the first reference to these doubts of the respective gañadharas in a gāthā of the Āvaśyaka Niryukti :
Jive' kamme? tajjīva' bhūya* tārisaya' bandbamokkhe ya; devā? ņeraies yā puņng' paraloya'o nevvāne". - Avasyaka Niryukti, Gả 596(1) Does the soul exist or not? (2) Is there anything like karma, (3) Is the body the same as soul or is it different ? (4) Do the elements exist ? (5) Is the soul in the next world similar to that in this world ? (6) Are bondage and salvation real? (7) Are there gods ? (8) Are there hellish beings? (9) Are there punya (good) and papa (sin)? (10) Is there the otherworld ? (11) Is there anything like emancipation ?
The Āvaśyaka Niryukti gives us further details regarding the life, etc, of these gañadharas. They are given in the chart on the following four pages. S
We are told, as said above, in the Kalpa-sūtra that Lord Mahăvira had eleven gañadbaras, but the number of ganas (schools) was nine. This is accounted for by the fact that a school or gaṇa is constituted as a result of a difference in the wording of the text though in all cases the meaning of the text might remain unchanged. The ganıdbaras composed the Agamas on the basis of the instruction given by Mahāvīra. On
+ See introductory statements of Jñātädbarmakathānga, Anuttaropapātika, Vipāka, Nirayā valika
Bhagavati 3.1 * Bhagavati 3.3
$ See Avaśyaka Niryukti, gāthās 589-641. G-4