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25
LORD MAHÂVÎRA AND THE
ANÝATIRTHIKAS
-J. Deleu
In the introduction to my critical analysis of the Viyahapannatti." I have pointed out the significance of the stray fragments dealing with the refutation of anyatirthikas2 that have come down to us in this remarkable work. In my opinion the chief interest of these texts is in the fact that they give us the answer, or at least the Jaina answer, to the questions which were the oftenest and most ardently disputed tenets proclaimed by Lord Mahâvîra, consequently which of these tenets did, in his day, rival teachers hold to be his most characteristic, original and personal doctrines. The 2500th Mahotsava of th Lord's Nirvana is, I think, a festive occasion to reflect on the meaning of these texts.
Refutations of tenets3 held by the anyatirthikas are found in Viy. 194, 101.2; II 51.7; V 31, 52, 65; VI 101.3, VII 101; VIII 71, 101; XVII 22.3, XVIII 71, 82. References to the dissidents are, of course, found in several other canonical works too, but there, more often than not, they bear upon the attitude Jaina monks are expected to assume regarding such adepts of another creed. Exceptions to this rule are Thana (ed. 1937) 129b and Jivabhigama (cd. 1919) 142b.
Little need be said about the stereotyped form in which the records of such old disputes have been handed down. The situation, almost invariably, is the one we know from other texts of the Pannatti type : Mahâvîra answering Goyama Indrabhuti's questions. In this case Goyama, as a rule, will ask his master to pronounce upon such-or-such heterodox view and Mahâvîra will simply, without any argumentation, reject it and proclaim his own view on the topic in question. Four fragments, though, are of a
