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INTRODUCTION
should quote the commentary on the Samavāyāngasūtra and not the one on the Nandisūtra. At this juncture I must declare that the authentic passage occurring in the Vrtti-Tikā on the Samavāyān.gasūtra and explaining the concerned sūtra is the one which I have given and contains not a word more or less. To clear the possible doubt that the passage quoted by Shri Manoharamuniji might have been left out in the printed edition of the Samavāyāngasūtravrtti published by the Āgamodaya Samiti, Surat, I consulted the old manuscripts of this Vrtti, but even in the old manuscripts I could not find a single word more than what I have quoted. That is, the additional passage quoted by Shri Manoharamuniji as from a commentary is really not from the commentary on the Samavāyāngasūtra. Manoharamuniji has given 'Nandisūtra 44' as a source of the quotation. Hence I consulted the Cürni, the Haribhadra's Vrtti and the Malayagiri's Vrtti on the Nandisūtra, but in none of them we find any remark on the original recension of the Rşibhasita. In short, the quotation from the commentary, on the strength of which Shri Manoharamuniji has made the statement that even at the time of the compilation of the Samavāyangasūtra there must have been 45 adhyayanas of the Rşibhāṣita, is not available to me. Hence it is to be pondered over as to how his statement be regarded as authentic and cogent.
All the extant old manuscripts of the Isibhāsiyāim contain 45 adhyayanas. Of course, there is no mention of the name of the author of the 20th adhyayana. That is, the number of the names of the authors of the adhyayanas of the Isibhäsiyaim is 44. I think this fact is to be regarded important for making the concerned passage of the Samavāyāngasūtra consistent with the fact of 44 adhyayanas.
In the tenth Sthana of the Sthānāngasūtra, there is an enumeration of the titles of ten śāstra works which contain ten adhyayanas or adhikāras. Therein the sixth title is Panhāvägaranddasão (Sk. Praśnavyäkaranadaśå). Ten headings or names of the ten adhyayanas of the Praśnavyākaranadaśasūtra are also mentioned there. It is interesting to note that the name Isibhāsiyāim is given to the third adhyayana of the Praśnavyākaranadaśāsūtra. The Praśnavyäkaranadaśāsütra mentioned in the Sthänăngasūtra has been lost to us since very old days. The Praśnavyäkaranadaśasūtra which is available at present and on which Āc. Abhayadevasüri has written a Vrtti in the 12th Century V.S. is different from the Praśnavyäkaranadaśā referred to in the Sthānangasūtra and described in the Nandisūtra. It is very difficult to decide as to whether the third adhyayana of the Praśnavyākaranadaśāsūtra referred to in the Sthânăngasūtra is identical with the present Isibhāsiyāim.
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