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E. Leumann, An outline of the Āvaśyaka Literature
According to Hemacandra, here, āesa is supposed to mean the three-part schematic answer of Mahāvīra. In a more general sense, the Avaśyaka-stories sometimes use the word for some canonical doctrine (of the prophets). On the other hand, in Av.-niry. X 35 āesa means a textually non-determined thesis of Jaina tradition. It is not said that it must originate from Mahāvīra. In any case, other Niryukti-passages (Das.niry. 18, etc. *), which permit a similar translation, presume that the theses mentioned there first appeared in the course of the tradition. In fact, first of all, the three individual cases of the third subdivision of our scheme are mentioned as "theses". [23] The KalpaCūrņi also precisely thinks about this latter usage of the word āesa in the explanation of the above gāthā; it observes at II:
vāra-trayam ya bS) ganadhara-prstasya tīrthakarasya sambandhi ya ("dhanīya S) ādeśah prativacanam utpāda-vyaya-dhrauvya-vācakam pada-trayam ity arthah. In Silānka's commentary only the explanation for I and III is preserved. Contentwise, it agrees with Hemacandra's point of view, according to which the stanza has to be translated thus: When you speak of Anga-texts and non-Anga-texts this can be interpreted in a threefold manner:
I. The former are composed by the Ganadhara-s, the latter by the Sthavira-s.
II. The former contain Mahāvīra's three-part schematic answers, the latter spontaneous explanations.
III. The former are perpetual since they have been valid under all prophets; the latter are
variable, because they change among the various prophets. 2 Thus Annikāputra describes in Āv.Erz. XVII 11, 28 hell with (the Pratīka) a gāthā (which is imparted half by śānty, and entirely by Dev, at Utt. VII 10); asked whether he might be able to give a description because he had seen hell in a dream, he answers: (no), it is the doctrine of the prophets (titthagarānam äeso tri). - H changes the answer to titthagarôvaesa* tti; Hemac. places in Paris. VI the line:
samsäre nâsti tad yad dhi na jñāyeta jin 'ägamät Il 122 A Nandi-passage (Ed. p. 366 f.; taken from Bhag. VIII 2 Ed. fol. 5834) also belongs here. It says: Through ābhinibohiya-nāna one knows āesenam everything without beholding it. - Tradition is uncertain here about the meaning of desa. Jinabhadra who puts this passage into verse in Vis. I 401 gives, in the attached explanation (402-494) before the correct interpretation (āeso = suttam), a false one (äeso = pagāro)**; the commentaries by Abhayadeva (on the Bhagavatī) and by Malayagiri (on the Nandi) simply reproduce the remarks by Jinabhadra (the former, briefly, the latter, in extenso). * In Viś. 1 503 Jinabhadra also writes uvaesa for āesa in Kalpabh. pedh. 79. ** This fits, however, at many canonical passages (in Anga 5, Upanga 4, etc.), where in the expressions davvao "as far as the matter is concerned", khettao "as far as the spatial extent is concerned", etc. and vannao "as far as the colour is concerned”, etc., āesa can be placed as desired without a change of meaning (davv'āesenam kheti āesenam etc. and vann 'äesenam etc.).
? There are 500 such theses. One is briefly conveyed in the text; in the old commentaries (C & H), along with three others, it is explained in more detail. Ac.niry. saparakkame' ya aparakkame? ya vāghāya' āņupuvvie
sutt'attha-jānaenam samāhi-maranam tu käyavvam || 281 1. saparakkamam-āeso: jaha maranam hoi ajja Vairānam
pāuvagamanam ca tahā, eyam saparakkamam maranam || 282 2. aparakkamam-äeso: jaha maranam hoi Udahi-nāmānam
pāuvagamane vi tahā, eyam aparakkamam maranam || 283 3. Vāghaiyam-äeso: avaraddho hojja annayaraenam,
Tosali mahisīya hao, eyam vāghāimam maranam || 284 4. anupuvvigam-äeso: pavvajjā sutta-attha-karanam ca
vīsajjio u ninto mukko tivihassa nīyassa || 285 āesa in a KalpaCūrņi-passage (I 2387), by way of an example, can be rendered here (eso tti vā ditthanto tti vā nidarisanam vă eg'attham). Sūtr.-niry. egabhavie' ya baddh’āue" ya abhimuhiya-nāmagoel ya
ee tinn'äesä davvammi .......... || 147 & 187 It should be observed that in Kalpabh. pedh. 1310 even a Digambara thesis, which the author naturally rejects, is called āesa. Cūrņi-commentaries generally denote with biiy'āesa the second (differing from the firstgiven) opinion (of a narrated occurrence or a commented passage). Sīlānka shows the same usage in a passage at Vis. I 7 written in Cūrņi-style. Similarly, from Anuyogadvāra onwards, you find aes'antarena meaning matântareņa "according to another opinion" (Anuyogadv. DI 1,5 ed. p. 235 and Siddhaprābhịta-țīkā with Malay. on Samgrahani G 134 fol. 1284).
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