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Hemaraj Pande's Caurāsi Bol
375
appears as a quotation in Upadhyāya Yaśovijayjī's composition (verse no. 19). Thus it can be safely assumed that this work is identical with the one that formed the pūrva-paksa for the Švetāmbara refutation.
The author of the Caurāsi Bol, Hemaraj Pande, is the same person who wrote the Hindi Pravacanasāra Bhāsā Tīkā called Bālāvabodha, published in the Pravacanasāra of Kundakunda, edited by Dr. A. N. Upadhye?. This work was completed in Agra in Samvat 1709 (=A. D. 1653) when Shah Jahan was on the throne of Delhi. We learn from a biography of Hemaraj, written by Dr. Kasturchand Kasliwal, that he was also the author of some 15 additional works, several in verse, including the Caurāsi Bol, which was completed in the same year as the Bālāvabodha*.
At the end of his brief article, Professor Kapadiya had expressed a wish that these two texts should be edited, translated, and compared to arrive at a better understanding of these two ancient Jain traditions :
आम प्रस्तुत कृतिनुं अनेकविध महत्त्व होवाथी... अनो विशेष प्रचार अने अभ्यास थवो घटे. आ माटे आ कृतिनुं समीक्षात्मक संस्करण तैयार करावी प्रकाशित करावु जोई. अमां पूर्वपक्ष तरीके हेमराज पांडेनी सितपट चौर्यासी बोल नामनी कृतिने स्थान आपq घटे. विशेषमा प्रस्तुत कृतिनो गुजराती अनुवाद पण आपवो जोई. साथे साथे सामसामी अपायेली दलीलो केटली सबक अने प्राचीन छे ते दर्शावq जोई.
The present edition of Hemaraj Pande's Caurāsi Bol thus takes one more step in furthering a critical study of the manifold issues that separate the Digambara and the Svetāmbara traditions. As is well known, two major issues, namely, kevali-bhukti (whether a kevalin, i.e., an Omniscient Being, partakes of food or not) and stri-mukti (whether a woman may attain moksa in that very life or not) dominate that debate. The Strīnirvāna Kevalibhuktiprakarane, edited by Muni Jambuvijayjis, is a most comprehensive collection of original and commentarial material available on these two topics. This has facilitated a good amount of modern research, notably, an article entitled, "Food and Freedom: The Jaina Sectarian Debate on the Nature of the Kevalin," by Professor Paul Dundas, and my own book Gender and Salvation : Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Liberation of Women?. But the remaining issues are not less important and call for scholarly attention. Professor Kapadiya in his article takes note of some 27 major topics and puts together a longer list from the headings that appear in Upādhyāya Yaśovijayjī's "Pratyukti" published in the Gurjara Sahitya Sangraha!
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