Grammatical Riddles from Jain Works

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: Z_Nirgranth_Aetihasik_Lekh_Samucchay_Part_1_002105.pdf and Nirgranth_Aetihasik_Lekh_Samucchay_Part_2

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Nalini Balbir
Jambū-jyoti
the corresponding text has not been handed down to us. The name Visräntavidyadhara is indeed known from references or quotations found in the indigenous tradition, but there have been some discussions on whether to understand it as referring to a work or to an author36. The syntax of our stanza makes it clear that Jinavallabha thinks about a teacher. But it is equally clear that in the following verse of the section of the Prabhāvakacarita devoted to Mallavädin
sabda-śāstre ca Viśrantavidyadhara-varābhidhe nyāsam cakre 'padhi-vrnda-bodhanāya sphutärthakam
(chap. 10, vs.38) it refers to a work (authored by a certain Vāmana, as other references show), and to the commentary written on it by the famous author of the Dvādasaranayacakra. Anyway this question is probably not so relevant, and it could well be that the rather expressive name Viśrantavidyadhara (= V.) designates both the work and its author, as when one says "the MonierWilliams". If the statement that Mallavādin (between sam. 400 and sam. 600)* commented it is true, it means that (the) V. is quite early.
The original source of the sūtra may be problematic, but the sutra itself
jhașy ekāco basah sdhvoś ca bhas
is well-known in wordings which are very close to each other in the following grammars :
* ekāco baśo bhas jħas-antasya sdhvoh (Pān. 8.2.37, with ante ca through anuvrtti from 8.2.29)
* jhasa ekācah sdhvor baśo bhas (Cāndra-vyāk. 6.3.69) * ekāco baso bhas jhasah sdhvoh (Jainendra-vyāk. 5.3.54) * baso bhas jhaṣaḥ sdhvoś caikācah pratyaye (Sākatāyana 1.2.76).
This shows that V. belongs to the Pāṇinian tradition and uses the same vocabulary and techniques as the great teacher of Sanskrit grammar. The use of ca both in V. and sākatāyana may mean that the sequence of
* Since he mentions Dinnāga (c. A. D. 480-560 or a few decades earlier), and also quotes from the Avasyaka-niryukti, he is best dated to the latter half of the sixth century A. D. - Editors.