ISJS Jainism Study Notes E5 Vol 04

Author(s): International School for Jain Studies
Publisher: International School for Jain Studies

Page 176

1.5.a
crya Kundakunda and His Literature
Prof. Bhag Chand Jain
1.0 Introduction Kundakunda was a spiritual saint and a great writer among Digambara Jaina thinkers. He is honored, next to Mah vra. Kundakund nvaya is evidence that recognizes him as the head of the Moolasangha, which is also considered one of the earliest congregations of Jaina ascetics named after Kundakunda. Kundakunda as a leader of Moolasangha had also launched the Sarasvati movement around 30 B.C. and initiated or popularized the reading and writing the scriptures in Sauraseni Prākta and in the languages of South India, Kundakunda also composed the Kural in Tamil language
1.1 Life Sketch According to epigraphic records, Kundakunda's original name was Padmanandi, but he became more popular by the name Kundakunda (E.C. II, 64, 66). In addition, Vakragriva, El c rya and Gradhapiccha were his other names or epithets. According to Dr. Upadhye, Kundakunda hails from Konakunda near Guntakal. Dr. Hanumanth Rao is of view that the birthplace of Kundakunda is Vijayawada on the ground that there is an ancient inscription in Akkanna Madanna caves. Dr. T.V.G. Shastri Supported the view by saying that exploration on the bank of the river Krishna has revealed some ancient Jain remains attributed to the period before Christ in a village called Kolanukonda, not Konakonda in Anantapur District. The place is located in Guntur district on the opposite side of the city of Vijayawada.
Nothing more about his personality is found in the works of Kundakunda except the name of Bhadrab hu as his Gamakaguru. So many traditional stories of course are found in different texts of different times that are not much reliable and helpful for deciding the date and period of Kundakunda. For instance, the Punyravak tha ko a, rdhan k tha ko a, and Jn naprabodha provide some information about his advent to Prva Videha-ksetra for paying a visit to Sr mandharasv mi. Devasena in his Dar anas ra (Verse 43) also supports this view.
1.2 Date of crya Kundakunda The date of crya Kundakunda is still a vexed problem, which could not be solved in such a way that could be approved by all the scholars. It requires the judicious and unbiased approach with a relative evaluation of the previous scholars' views and epigraphically records in right perspective.
I need not refer to and evaluate all the views established by the scholars like Pt. Nathuram Premi, Dr. Pathak, Muni Kalyanavijiy, Pt. Jugal Kishor Mukhtar, Professor Chakravarty, Dr. A.N. Upadhye, and Pt. Kailash Chandra Shastri. Dr. A.N.Upadhye evaluated all then exiting important views and established the date of Kundakunda at the beginning of the Christian era with two limits in the introduction to the Pravacanas ra (P. xii) as follows: In the light of this long discussion on the age Kundakunda wherein we have merely tried to weigh the probabilities after approaching the problem from various angles and thoroughly thrashing the available traditions, we find that the tradition puts his age in the second half of the first century B.C. and the first half of the first century A.D.; the possibility of Satkha d gama being completed before Kundakunda would put him later than the middle of the second century A.D.; and the Merkara copper-plates would show that the later limit of his age would be the middle of the third century A.D. Further the possibilities, in the light of the limitations discussed, that Kundakunda might have been a contemporary of king Shivakandha of the Pallava dynasty and that he, if proved to be the same as El c rya on more definite grounds, might be the author of Kural, would imply that the age of Kundakunda should be limit, in the light of the circumstantial evidences noted above, to the first two centuries of the Christian era. I am inclined to believe, after this long survey of the available material, that Kundakunda's age lies at the beginning of the Christian era. After the demise of Dr. Upadhye, the date of Kundakunda was not much discussed. Sometimes back Dr. M.A. Dhaky and Dr. Sagarmal Jain have reviewed the date fixed by Dr. Upadhye and expressed their views on the problem that Kundakunda may be even placed in about eight c. A.D. Most of their arguments are based on the negative and inferential evidence. Prof. Dhaky published his article in the Aspects of Jainology, Vol. 3, pp. 187-206, Varanasi, 1991 with the
Page 166 of 556
STUDY NOTES version 4.0