Jain Shwetambar Conference Herald 1915 Book 11 Jain Itihas Sahitya Ank

Author(s): Mohanlal Dalichand Desai
Publisher: Jain Shwetambar Conference

Page 64

270
Shri Jain Conference Herald.
Fifthly. I should like to go to a somewhat later author to show that Haribhadra cannot be supposed to hove flourished in the tenth Vikrama century. The author whom I now quote is though late in date is sufficiently near the time to warrant an inference which I draw from his writings. The author is Malladhari Hemchandra. This Hemchandra flourished in the middle of the twelth century Vikrama in the time of the great king legt JAR. He has composed a short commen. tory on sagt known as 319377 coor. In the book he first quotes Haribhadra.
यद्यपि मया तथान्यैः कृतास्य विवृतिस्तथापि संक्षेपात ।
ताचि सत्त्वानुग्रहहेतोः, क्रियते प्रयासोऽयं ॥ These are the words of Haribhadra, who, I should say, has composed a are on the same strazia. The arə I should also state is still available. Now ASAIT ga az after quoting this verse from Haribhadra's ara dilates to the following effect. ___ यद्यपि मया वृत्तिः कृता इत्येवं वादिनि च वृत्तिकारे चतुरशीति सहस्र प्रमाणानेनैवावश्यक वृत्तिरपरा कृतासीदिति प्रवादः सत्यएव लक्ष्यते ।
This shows that Haribhadra himself had composed a greater Vratti and a smaller one also (the latter was available in the time of Agurt and is still so, ) that the greater one extended to the length of 94000 slokas, that there was simply a tradition to the same effect and that his simply draws that inference and confirms the tradition from the writings of Haribhadra.
Now what does this show? As far as I understand it, the commentator cannot be warranted to expre-s the above fact as a tradition if there is not a great interval of good many centuries. Besides no books of Jainism are lost or destroyed in the 10th or 11th century, because that was the period when Jainism was in its zenith. The two centuries produced good many original writers and many kings were attached to and converted to the Jain faith. All these facts taken together warrant the inference that commentary (larger ) must have been lost during the period of 300 years which elapsed bet