Nyayavatara and Nayakarnika

Author(s): Siddhasena Divakar, Vinayvijay, A N Upadhye
Publisher: Jain Sahitya Vikas Mandal

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Dvā.s form a good unit; they are in praise of Mahāvīra; the colophon at the end of the 5th specifies it as StutiDvā; and they have close parallels with the Svaymbhūstotra of Samantabhadra. No. 21 also is addressed to Mahāvīra, but, as noted above, it is of different authorship. No. 11 is addressed to a king who is identified on valid grounds with the Gupta king, either Samudragupta or Chadragupta II, preferably the latter. No. 6 is a critical exposition of Apta, and contains a bold criticism that all that is old is not gold. No. 8 is a discussion about Vāda-kathā. It sheds abundant light on Vāda, its weakness and vanity. The Dvā No. 7 is called Vādopanişad: the title is as clever as the survey of the technique of debate. The main object of the debate is to gain victory and the tricks and tactics of it are fully covered here.
There are six Dvā.s which deal with different systems of philosophy. The 9th deals with Veda, and the author shows that he is fully conversant with the Svetāsvataropanișad and some Rgvedic contexts. The exposition is subtle, and needs careful study. The 12th deals with the Nyāya-darśana: the opening yerse is quite outspoken; the 13th covers the Sāmkhya-darśana; and the next three are devoted to Vaiseșika, Bauddha and Niyati-vāda (possibly Ājīvika).
The remaining Drā.s, namely Nos. 10, 17, 18 19 and 20 (the Nyäyāvatāra excluded) discuss different aspects of Jaina doctrines, such as, Dhyāna, ĀsrayaSamvara from different points of view, Karma and its fruition, the traits of a Teacher and the qualities of a pupil, Jñāna-darśana-cāritra, threefold nature of substance (dravya) etc.
In the real sense of the term the first five Dvā.s