Jaina World of Non Living

Author(s): N L Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

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The Jaina world of Non-living
(xii). In contrast to many disquisition doors for aspectwise studies, he mentions only 6 or 8 (or 12 if four positings are also included) of them. (xiii). Umāsvati has also not followed the tradition of composing texts on the basis of 'as told by Jinas' for crediblity. He intended the reader to Judge his composition by himself. He has presented himself to be more intellectual rather than faithful. A third and presumably more reasonable opinition, thus, seems to emerge that the aphorist was a prominent figure living in a period prior to clearcut schismisation as pointed out earlier. He started an era of logical thinking which has been the basis for Jinistic conceptualisation. This translator concurs with this view and hopes the coming generation of the scholars will approve it. Biography of the Aphorist - Umāsvāti/Umāsvāmi
There is not much details available about the biography of this noted aphorist who followed the anonymistic trend of his own time. That is why, even a recent scholar raised a point whether the aphorist was a female. However most scholars take him as a male and a scholarly saint. Two versions about his life-sketch are available and, therefore, there are two names of the aphorist as pointed out earlier. On this basis, some contended them as representing two persons. However, it is reasonable to presume that as Umasvati is a common factor in the two names, the aphorist must be a single person by this name attached with different titles after schismic mentality developed. It is due to this that his biography is also marked with confusing details.
The D-version gives some inkling about his whole life without any details of his area of birth, parentage, lineage and literary compositions. In contrast, the S-version gives the later details without indication of his whole life sketch. If one assumes that the aphorist was a single person and a pre-schismic identity, his life-sketch could be reasonably compiled by inclusion of all the available details in both the versions. This will lead us to the following biography of the aphorist, though it may not be to the liking of many earlier or modern scholars advocating either the separate identity or lineage of the aphorist.
The aphorist was born in a noted Brahmin family during a period sometimes 683 years after the salvation of Mahavira (It is now 468 B.C. hence 683-468=215 A.D.). His parents were Vätsi 'Umā' (mother) and "Svāti' (father) leading to his name as Umāsvāti. (This may be a southern tradition which indicates his Digambara origin ?) However, the autocommentary panegyric mentions him to be born in the city of
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