Book Title: Medieval Jainism
Author(s): Bhasker Anand Saletore
Publisher: Karnataka Publishing House

Previous | Next

Page 240
________________ CRITICAL TIMES 225 Samantabhadra lived in Saka 60 (A.D. 138).1 Credence may be given to the tradition that Samantabhadra lived in the second century A.D., when we examine the pontifical pedigrees of the Jaina gurus as given in the epigraphs ranging from the beginning of the twelfth to the fifteenth century A.D. Thus in a record dated A.D. 1129 we have three names in succession without their relationship being explainod : Bhadrabāhu, Kondakunda, and next to him Samantabhadra, thus showing that in regard to spiritual greatness these three names come one after the other. Ir another record dated A.D. 1163 it is said that in the line of Bhadrabāhu arose Kondakunda, who was also called Padmanandi, Umāsvāti, and Gțdhrapiñcchācārya. His disciple was Balākapiñccha. "In such a line of great ācāryas arose (with praise) Samantabhadra ” after whom came Pūjyapāda. The same is repeated in a later record of A.D. 1398 in which we are told that Kondakunda wrote the Tattvārthasūtra, and that Samantabhadra's disciple Sivakotisūri “ornamented the Tattvārthasūtra”, evidently meaning thereby that he wrote a commentary on that work. Then, again. 1. Bhandarkar, Report on Skt. MSS. for 1883-1884 p. 320. Rice also placed Samantabhadra in the second century A.D. My & Coorg, p. 203. But Narasimhacarya maintained that Samantabhadra may have lived in circa. 400. (Kavicarite, I, p. 4). 2. E. C. II. 67, p. 25. 3. Ibid, 64, p. 17. 4. Ibid, 254, p. 110. If we are to rely upon this inscription, and there is no reason why we should doubt its authenticitythen, Sivakoti was the earliest Jaina scholar to write a commentary on the Tattvārthasūtra. Hence Prof. Upadhye's remark that Pujyapada-who, as pointed out elsewhere in this treatise, can sometime after Samantabhadra,-- was the earliest Digambara commentator on Tattvārthasūtra (Pravacanasāta. Intr. p. xxi) has to be modified.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448