Harmless Soul

Author(s): W J Johnson, Dayanand Bhargav
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas

Page 60

PART II UMĀSVĀTI'S JAINISM
The mechanism of bondage according to the
Tattvārtha Sūtra
2.1 Umāsvāti's Jainism - Primary sources and chronology
As it represents the first real synthesis of Jaina doctrine, I have, for this part of my argument, used the Tattvārtha Sūtra of Umāsvāti as my point of reference. This is the earliest extant Jaina work in Sanskrit, written between 150 C.E. and 350 C.E.1 Indeed, as P.S. Jaini points out, it 'manages to synthesize virtually the entire Jaina doctrinal system in a mere 350 sūtras'.2 Furthermore, it is not only the one text that both Digambaras and Svetāmbaras recognize as authoritative, but the commentaries on it, whether by Digambara or Svetāmbara authors, 'present almost identical explications of 'Jaina doctrine'.3 (In any case, the differences between Svetāmbara and Digambara doctrine are not significant for the present discussion, which deals with problems fundamental to both traditions.) For that reason I have used the earliest extant Digambara commentary, the Sarvārthasiddhi of Pūjyapāda (Devanandin) (c. fifth century C.E.), in conjunction with the Tattvārtha Sūtra, rather than the alleged autocommentary, the Tattvārthādhigama Bhāsya (also known as the Svopajña Bhāsya). There is in fact
1 See Bronkhorst p.178; also Dixit 1971, pp. 5-8. Ohira pp.135. 137, dates Umāsvāti to the end of the 5th century, but that seems to be too late - see Bronkhorst and Zydenbos, below.
2 JPP p. 82. 3 Bronkhorst p. 178.