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294
Nalini Balbir
the corresponding text has not been handed down to us. The name Viśrantavidyadhara is indeed known from references or quotations found in the indigenous tradition, but there have been some discussions on whether to understand it as referring to a work or to an author. The syntax of our stanza makes it clear that Jinavallabha thinks about a teacher. But it is equally clear that in the following verse of the section of the Prabhavakacarita devoted to Mallavādin
sabda-sastre ca Visräntavidyadhara-varäbhidhe
nyāsaṁ nyasam cakre Ipadhi-vṛnda-bodhanaya sphuṭārthakam
Jambu-jyoti
(chap. 10, vs.38) it refers to a work (authored by a certain Vamana, as other references show), and to the commentary written on it by the famous author of the Dvādasaranayacakra. Anyway this question is probably not so relevant, and it could well be that the rather expressive name Viśrantavidyadhara (= V.) designates both the work and its author, as when one says "the MonierWilliams". If the statement that Mallavädin (between sam. 400 and sam. 600)* commented it is true, it means that (the) V. is quite early.
The original source of the sutra may be problematic, but the sutra itself
jhasy ekaco baśaḥ sdhvoś ca bhas
is well-known in wordings which are very close to each other in the following grammars :
* ekaco baso bhas jhas-antasya sdhvoḥ (Pän. 8.2.37, with ante ca through anuvṛtti from 8.2.29)
jhaṣa ekācaḥ sdhvor baso bhas (Candra-vyāk. 6.3.69) *ekaco baso bhas jhasah sdhvoh (Jainendra-vyäk. 5.3.54) *baso bhas jhaṣaḥ sdhvoś caikācaḥ pratyaye (Śäkaṭāyana 1.2.76).
This shows that V. belongs to the Paninian tradition and uses the same vocabulary and techniques as the great teacher of Sanskrit grammar. The use of ca both in V. and Säkaṭāyana may mean that the sequence of
Jain Education International
* Since he mentions Dinnaga (c. A. D. 480-560 or a few decades earlier), and also quotes from the Avasyaka-niryukti, he is best dated to the latter half of the sixth century A. D.-Editors.
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