Navtattva Prakaran

Author(s): Shriprakash Pandey
Publisher: Parshvanatha Vidyapith

Page 12

viii : Navatattva Prakarana
caupāī written on Navatattvaprakarana, in Prāksta, Sanskrit, Gujarati and Hindi, which show the importance of the text.
Author
Navatattvaprakaraṇa, in its fabric, contains no information about its original author or the date of composition in the work in the work itself. An old handwritten MS of Navatattvarakaraṇa contains in its opening verse the name of Śrī Dharma Süri as its author. The verse runs thus:
ia navatattaviyāro, appamainānajāņaņāheuTM samkhitto uddhario, lihio Siridhammasürihis.
Although the name of Śrī Dharma Süri appears at the end of the verse but we have no further information regarding his identity or his date. Even the commentators have not suggested any clue about the author and his date. In some of the editions the name of Śrī Cirantanācārya has been given as its author- Cirantanācārya viracitam- but it does not denote the name of its original author. It denotes only that this text is compiled by any encient ācārya. Going through the different editions one can easily notice that out of 59 (60) verses only 27 seem to be original and rest 32 (33) verses are interpolated later on, for 27 verses are common in most of the editions. Had the original Navatattvaprakarana contained 60 verses, it would have been mentioned by the commentators. Since we do not have any commentary dating prior to 12th century A.D. it can be inferred that the original author of 27 verses must have flourished in or before 13th cent. A.D.
An another old MS contains a verse in its puşpikā (conculding verse) mentioning the name of Śrī Vādidevasüri as its author. The verse reads:
Vadidevasüri viracitam navatattvaprakaranam.2
According to the above verse Śrī Vādideva Süri (1143-1226 A.D.) was the author of this text. Vādideva Süri, the famous author of Pramānanayatattvāloka, Syādvādratnākara etc., was basically a logician 1. Śrī Navatattvaprakaraṇam, Cirantanacāryaviracitam, Śriman
muktikamal Jain Mohan Mālāyām, Bhavanagar 1934. Page No. 8. 2. Ibid P. 8. -