Book Title: Pravachanasara
Author(s): A N Upadhye
Publisher: Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 155
________________ 122 Pravacanasira Parikarma. In his opinion its contents primarily covered Saiddhantikaganita. It is mentioned as Parikarma-satta; it is closely connected with the Satkhandagama on which possibly it was a Vyakhya, now and then expressing different views. Virasena does not mention the name of the author, but Pt. Kailash Chandra is inclined to accept Kundakunda as its author, because Indranandi says so and because some of its expressions have their counterparts in the Niyamasara as already noted by Dr. H. L. Jain. Page 21, para 2, on the words 'Christian era': Muni Sri Kalyanavijayaji has advanced some arguments against an early date for Kundakunda (Sramana Bhagavan Mahāvīra, Jalor 1941). But his observations are not objectively presented; nor do they stand strict critical scrutiny. Some of his arguments are already met by my discussion to which he makes no reference. On his other details, I may just passingly note the following points: i) The Hindu deities Vienu, Brahman etc. are mentioned in the Satrakṛtänga (I. 6. 21; 1. 1. 5; etc.), one of the earliest works in the Ardhamagadahi canon; and it is not correct to presume that these are just deities of the Puranic age. ii) Reference to Caityagrha has nothing to do with Caityaväsa. iii) It is still to be proved that the Rayanasara is the work of Kundakunda, the author of the Pravacanasara. iv) Some of his presumptions are obviously incorrect. In chronological discussions evidence is more valuable than anybody's opinion, however ingenious it might be.. Pt. Sukhalalaji has expressed his assertive voice against such an early date for Kundakunda (Sanmati Prakaraya (Hindi), Ahmedabad 1963). But he has not presented any evidence which could be weighed. by a historian of literature. It is not the conclusion but the evidence which is presented that matters more in objective studies. The philosophical concepts and the attendant terms have flown in India in various currents and cross cnrrents, and there is very little individualistic about them. So any attempt to come to chronological conclusions on the basis of similarities of ideas and so on will always remain problematic. F. W. Thomas (vide his Intro. to the Pravacanasära pp. 16 ff., Cambridge 1935.) has already made an objective attempt in this direction by putting together various terms etc. (as a sign of antiquity) used by Kundakunda whom he puts earlier than Umasvati and would not at any rate put him after Siddhasena as perhaps Pt. Sukhalalaji has in his mind. The studies about Kundakunda are still in their infancy, and there is scope for further investigation. It is well-known that scholars are not agreed even on the age of Kalidasa for the simple reason that some of them try to usher in arguments which have hardly any relevance and definiteness while determining questions of chronology. This is a good lesson for us who are working on chronological problems. Page 22, foot-note 2: It is suggested that Kondakunde-Konkondla (Anantapur Dt.) is the place to which Kundakunda belonged and possibly derived his Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612