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Vipāk Sūtra
is an administrative term denoting local chiefs, district officers and big land-lords. One of their families became the Rāştrakūţa rulers. Period of Commentaries, : : The answer rests on two considerations. One of them is the logical conclusion that the present text is later than its reference in the Sthānanga Sūtra. The second consideration is based on the available commentaries.
Significantly, the commentaries on Anga texts are Niryukti, Bhāşya, Cūrņi, and ţikā, and commentaries in different modern languages. These also form a chronological order. The earliest commentary available for the Vipāka-Sūtra is that of Abhayadeva of the 11th/12th centuries A.D.
If one relies on this piece of evidence, the chronological position of the Vipāka text lies between the Sthānānga text and 11th/12th centuries A.D. The date of sthānānga also requires to be closely examined, but if one relies on the tradition of Valabhi Vācanā, its date is prior to the 8th century A.D. Thus the Vipāka text of the present day would be between the Sthānānga and Abhayadeva. It is therefore, reasobale to arrive at a time gap of circa 8th to 11th century A.D. for the present text. This is a time span of about four hundred years. Can it be reduced ? Is there any other evidence to support the conclusion ? Comparision of other data :
The answer lies in the study of socio-political situation of this period. Interestingly, this period of 8th and succeeding centuries is marked by the disappearance of older states and emergence of the new powers of the Gurjaras, Pālas, Rāştrakūțas and Cholas in differnt parts of India.
In Western India, Valabhi, where the Jain Agama texts were committed to writing was destroyed by the Arabs. Its fall as a capital of the Maitrakas led to the migration of the Jains, The conquerors of Valabhi were defeated by Avanijanāšraya Pulakesirāja near Navasari in south Gujarat. These Calukya rulers were defeated by the Rāştrakūțas, who were powerful in Mahārāştra, Gujarāt and Karņāțak in the period of 8th–10th centuries.
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