Nandisutt and Anuogaddaraim

Author(s): Devvachak, Aryarakshit, Punyavijay, Dalsukh Malvania, Amrutlal Bhojak
Publisher: Mahavir Jain Vidyalay

Page 216

...[71]...
sutra had already been composed before the final recension of the Agamas came into existence. In Valabhi Ac. Devardhi simply penned down (pustaka-lekhana) the Agamas while their final recension had been prepared by Ac. Skandila in Mathura. Ac. Skandila belongs to the period between V.N. 827 and 840. In this very period Ac. Nagarjuna too prepared the recension of the Agamas. But there are reasons to believe that the extant Agamas follow the Mathuri recension. So, we can fix V.N. 827 the lower limit of the composition of the Anuyogadvarasutra. This means that it had already been composed before V.S. 357. Now, let us see if it is possible for us to assign the Anuyogadvārasūtra to some approximate date earlier than V.S. 357. The Anuyogadvärasūtra refers to the works Tarangavati, etc. (su. 308). Hence we can say this much that it should have been composed after the composition of the works Tarangavati and others mentioned therein. Out of the four titles-Tarangavati, Malayavati, Atmānuśästi and Bindu-the title Bindu seems to be a short form or a part of the complete title of some work. It is really very difficult to decide as to which work is intended by the author by the name Bindu. The author could not have intended Nyāyabindu or Hetubindu of Dharmakirti. Again, the title of the fourteenth Purva is Lokabindusăra or simply Bindu. But even this Purva could not have been intended by the author. We know nothing about the work Atmänuśästi. The same is the case with the Malayavati. But we know that the Tarangavati is a work composed by Ac. Padalipta who belonged to the first century of the Vikrama Era.
While giving an account of the laukika śruta ('worldly' literature) the Anuyogadvārasutra enumerates the titles of numerous works.59 Many of them are mere titles; we have no further information about them
Now here we should also bear in mind that there is always a possibility of including new titles in a list like the one under consideration even after the composition of the work containing it. The well known titles like Koḍillayam, Kanagasattari,59a Saṭṭhitantam, Madhara occur in this list. Out of them the title Mathara catches our attention in this connection. Others are the titles of works which most probably belong to the period preceding the commencement of the Vikrama Era.
The Maṭharavṛtti has been translated into Chinese. And in the opinion of Dr. Belvalkar it was certainly composed before 450 A.D.
59. Ibid., Su. 49
59a. The author of the Kanagasattari was Vindhyaväsi who was contemporary of Vasubandhu. But this Sanskrit work is lost to us. Hence it is not possible for us to know if it has influenced the Anuyogadvāra.