Medieval Jainism

Author(s): Bhasker Anand Saletore
Publisher: Karnataka Publishing House

Page 35

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MEDIÆVAL JAINISM Devabhārati nibaddha Vaddakathena Kirātārjunīyenapañcadaśa-sarga-fīkākāreņa Durvinīta nāmadheyena.
But our difficulty does not end here. While the Gummareddipura plates conclusively prove that king Durvinīta was the author of a Sabdāvatāra, it cannot be maintained on the strength of this record that he was not the disciple of Pūjyapāda. We have to admit that there is no explicit reference in any inscription to the fact that Pūjyapāda was the guru of king Durvinīta. The Kadagattūr plates assigned by Rice to circa A. D. 482, no doubt, describe king Durvinīta as one who walked according to the example of his guru (svaguru guṇānugāminā).2 But this does not show that Pūjyapāda was connected with king Durvinīta.
A solution of the problem lies in ascertaining a few details centring round Pūjyapāda. We know that this great teacher was the author of a work called sabdāvatāra. A later record found in the Pañcabasti at Humcca, and assigned to A. D. 1530 on valid grounds, informs us that Pūjyapāda was the author of the following works--Nyāyakumudacandrodaya, the nyāsa on the sūtras of Sākațāyana, the nyāsa named Jainendra " also the great nyāsa called śabdāvatāra on the sūtras of Pāņini," the Vaidya-śāstra for the good of mankind, and a ţikā to the Tattvārtha.8
Can we rely upon this record of the middle of the sixteenth century A. D. for determining something about a person who lived in the early centuries of the Christian era ? This will depend on our comparing some of the details given in the above inscription with those found in other records. An inscription dated A. D. 1163 informs us that Pujyapāda
1. M.A.R. for 1912, pp. 31-32, 35. 2. E.C. XII. Mi. 110, p. 115. 3. Ibid., VIII, Nr. 46, p. 147 ; My & Coorg, p. 197.