Note on Hemchandras Abhidhanchintamani and Sanskrit Karmavati

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: ZZ_Anusandhan

Page 18

१८४
अनुसन्धान-५४ श्रीहेमचन्द्राचार्यविशेषांक भाग-२
in JAS ed. = 94 in ed. with commm; also quoted in commentaries on JP p. 485 and SP p. 180).
śānticandra (on JP) and Malayagiri (on JK) comment this statement in almost identical words:
āditya-karma-candra-nakṣatrābhivardhita-māsānāṁ madhye karma-samvatsara-sambandhi māso ‘niramśatayā' paripūrņa-trimśad-ahorātm-pramāṇatayā loke sukhena vyavahārako bhavati (M p. 55) / loka
vyavahāra-kārakaḥ syāt (Á).
Śānticandra says that a fractional number (sāņśa-) does not suit practical activities. An integer number is thus: 60 palas = 1 ghatikā, 2 gh. = 1 muhūrta, 30 m. = 1 day and night, 15 days and nights = 1 fortnight, 2 fortnights = 1 month and 12 months = 1 year. This is what is used by people in ordinary life. Experts in treatises, he observes, use all thetypes of months for their respective activities.30
The two commentators illustrate their point with one example each. Malayagiri refers to “uneducated people like peasants":
tathā hi haladharādayo pi bāliśās trimśatam ahorātrān parigaņayya māsam parikalpayanti (comm. on JK p.
55).
śānticandra notes that in common parlance people employ the practical year and the practical month when they speak of the increase in the age of their children or for time intervals:
stumāsa-rtusamvatsarāv eva lokaiḥ putravệddhi
29. This is the reading of JK with Malayagiri's commentary and of the commentaries on JP and SP, against the Jaina-Agama-Series ed.: evam sesā māsā. 30. Šāstra-vedibhis tu sarve 'pi masāḥ sva-sva-kāryesu niyojitāḥ (p. 485)