Paumchariyam Part 1

Author(s): Vimalsuri, Punyavijay, Harman
Publisher: Prakrit Granth Parishad

Page 28

VIMALASORI'S LIFE
must accept Jacobi's dating of the Paamachariya (about the end of the third century A.D.). Jacobi's hypothesis regarding the age of the Paumachariya finds strong support from Muniśri Kalyanavijayaji,. who writes in his letter1 :
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"An error has crept into the Gatha giving the date of the work through the carelessness of some scribe. The expression in the present text of the Gatha must have originally read as farakatigar. Due to scribal error the syllable from fa may have been left out and subsequently on noticing the metrical flaw may have been corrected to ". This amended text would give 274 A.D. as the date of the Paamachariya. "The age of the work could not", he asserts, "be earlier than the third century A. D., as it mentions 'lagna', etc., contains repeated exhortations to the people to perform the worship of the Jina-images, and 'Abhiseka' (ablution) and lays down that the people should consecrate Jina-idols in each and every house and condemns the loose practices of Jaina monks. These references better fit in with and indicate the Gupta age and not the first century of Vikrama Samvat."
Although it is hard to persuade oneself to agree with Muniér Kalyanavijayaji regarding his emendation, as it indicates an extremely unusual way of giving the date of a work, his arguments based upon the 'Aşṭavidha Puja, Abhiseka, Jina-Pratima-Pratiṣṭhāpanā, etc., are weighty and confirm Jacobi's late date for the work.
8. VIMALASÜRI'S LIFE.
It is, indeed, a misfortune that we have no biographical records of our well-known ancient pocts, playwrights or writers in other fields. The lack of reliable personal life-history produces a sense of something missing. All that Vimalasari chooses to tell us is stated in the colophon of his Paumachariya. He gives his spiritual lineage: He was a pupil of Vijaya, who was the joy and glory of the Nailakulavamsa. Vijaya, in his turn, was a pupil of Rahu, who had mastered the doctrines of his own faith as well as those of his religious adversaries. It is clear that Vimalasuri like his teacher belonged to the same Nailakulavarśa. Muniśrī Kalyāṇavijayaji informs me that "The Naila-Kula (vamsa) continued to be known as Nāgila-kula or Nagendrakula up to the twelfth century (V. S.). From that time onwards it continued under the name Nagendragaccha and it altogether disappeared from the fifteenth century (V.S.). It appears from references in the exegetical works on the Satras that the monks belonging to this kula were somewhat of independent nature. They introduced some new practices as a result of which they lost caste with the orthodox kulas like the Kotika sometime in the eighth century after Mahavira's Nirvana. This probably explains why Vimalasūri or succeeding Acharyas of this Kula do not find mention in the Pattavalis and the absence of independent pattavalis or Gurvävalis of their own. The colophon also informs us that Vimalasüri wrote his Raghava-Charita (the same as Padma-Carita, Jaina Rāmāyana) after having heard the lives of Narayana (here Lakṣmaṇa) and Baladeva (here Rama) as described in the Parvas.3
3. Ibid., paragraph 2 The English translation of the original Hindi passages is free, but brings out his point of view correctly.
3. The use of the expression Dharmalabha, and the allusion to restoration of ruined Jaina shrines also point in the same direction.
3. राष्ट्र नामावरियो ससमयपरसमयगईयसम्भावो जिओ य तस्स सीसो नाइलकुलसमंदिवरो ॥
,
सीसेण तस्स रइयं, राहवचरियं तु सूरिविमलेणं । सोऊणं पूब्बगए, नारायण-सीरिचरियाई ॥ CXVII. 117 118.
Incidently it may be noted here that the word 'f' in the above verse is misunderstood by some. Sri S. C. Upadhyaya takes it to mean "" (at pp. 100, 104, 109, 117 in his article referred to above. It is so misunderstood by Dr. Jyotiprasada Jain too (see his paper referred to above, p. 439). The word