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faina Ethics according to geneologies of the Digambaras, he lived in 1st century A.D.1
Amstacandrācārya and Jayasena are the two most important commentators on Prābhrtatraya i.e. Samayasāra, Pravacanasāra and Pañcāstikaya, Amrtacandr ācārya also wrote Samayasārakalaša, which is a part of his commentary on Samayasāra in the form of beautiful Saṁskṛta verses. His commentaries on Pañcāstikāya, Pravacanasāra and Samayasāra are called the Tattvapradipikāvrtti, the Tattavadipika and the Atmakhyāti, respectively. He is placed in the 10th century A.D.2 whereas Jayasena is placed in the 12th century A.D. by Dr. Upadhye:3 An early commentator on Niyamasāra, who quotes profusely from Amrtacandra, is Padmaprabhamaladhāri (1000 A.D.).
Srutasāgara, who wrote commentaries on six out of eight available Pāhudas, is placed in the 15th century A.D. by Winternitz.5
2. Mūlācāra
Consisting of 1248 gāthās, it is the earliest work on the conduct of a Faina monk from Digambara point of view. It gives 28 Mūlagunas of the Jaina monk. It is ascribed to Vațțakera or Vațțakeri? by its commentator Vasunandi (11th century A.D.).8 The Puspikā of Vasunandi's commentary mentions Kundakunda as the author of Mūlācāra. This has led to a great controversy about authorship of Mülācāra. Shri Premi thinks that Vattakeri should not be identified with Kundakunda because he is more influenced by Svetāmbara traditions.10
In the absence of any decisive evidence regarding the
1. Winternitz, M., A History of Indian Literature, Vol. II, p. 476. 2. Pravacanasāra, Introduction, p. CI. 3. Ibid., p. CVI. 4. Jaina, J.C., Prākrta sahitya kā itihāsa, p. 300. 5. Winternitz., M., A History of Indian Literature, Vol. II, p. 592. 6. Vasunandi on Mülācāra, Bombay, Vik. Sam. 1977, Part I, p. 2. 7. Ibid., Bombay, Vik. Sam. 1980, Part II, p. 324. 8. Vasunandiśravakācāra, Kāśi, 1952, prastāvanā, p. 18. 9. Vasunandi on Mülācāra, Part II, p. 324. 10. Premi, Nathurāma, Jaina sāhitya aura itihäsa, (Second ed.), Bombay,
1956, pp. 550-553.
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