________________
Introduction
the fourteenth century. This tradition has been a source of further confusion that Kundakunda, on the supposition that he had a name Gșdhrapiccha and from the fact that Grdhrapicchācārya was the author of Tattvārthasūtra,1 came to be looked upon by Rajendramauli, a late commentator on Tattvärthasūtra, as the author of Tattvärthasūtra, and it is a misrepresentation of facts, contradictory to earlier evidences available, in unmistakable terms.
CONCLUSION ABOUT HIS NAMES.—To conclude, it is clear, in the light of the evidences discussed above, that Padmanandi was the name of our author, and he came to be known as Kõndakun y a, possibly a name derived from that of his native place, Kundakundurainus 'Indranandi tells us in his Śrutāvatāra (verse 160 etc.); as to the other
buted to Kundakunda, the name Elācārya is a matter still sub judicl
r to two other names early epigraphic records go against the trad Te
y might have been current through lack of authentic information about Bunuhda. ***
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL RESULTS OF KUNDAKUNDA.-At the end of Bārasa-anuvěkkhā Kundakunda mentions his name; and at the end of Bodha-prābhrta, we find that it is the composition of the sięya of Bhadrabāhu: this is all that we learn about Kundakunda from his works. The students of Prakrit literature and those of Jaina literature will always look upon it as an unfortunate phenomenon that Kundakunda has not left anything from his mouth about the details of his personality in any of his works, but that is not at all abnormal in the history of ancient Indian literature.
TRADITIONAL BIOGRAPHY OF KUNDAKUNDA.-There are available a couple of traditional stories about the life of Kundakunda; they are not at all contemporary records, and moreover, being written at a time far distant from the age of Kundakunda, they, by themselves, do not deserve much credit. Professor Chakravarti3 narrates the life of Kundakunda on the authority of [p. 6:] Punyāsrava-kathā, 4 wherein, he says, it is cited as an illustration of sāstradāna. In short the story runs thus: In the town of Kurumarai, in the district of Pidatha nādū, in Dakşiņa-desa of Bharata-khanda, there lived a wealthy merchant Karamunda with his wife Srimati.
1 E. C., II, 254; E.C., VIII, Nagar No. 46; and the popular verse which is generally found and repeated at the close of Tattvärtha-sütra
Tattvārthasūtra-kartāram Grdhrapicchopalakṣitam /
vande ganindra-samjātam-Umāsvāti-munisvaram // 2 See Anekānta Vol. I, p. 198; I have, in my possession, a fairly written MS. of Rājendra
mauli's commentary. 3 Introduction to Pañcāstikāyasära, p. vii etc., Vol. III of the Sacred Books of the Jainas
(SBJ); whenever I refer to the opinions of Prof. Chakravarti, the reference is to this
Introduction. 4 With a view to verify the details, I consulted the Marathi ovi version of Punyásrava (com
posed in Saka 1739), which is based on the Kanarese Punyäsrava of Nagarāja, composed in 1331 A.D., but I was not able to trace the story. I do not know whether Prof. Chakravarti has in view the Sanskrit Punyäsrava, which Nägarāja says that he has rendered into Kaparese. Possibly the spellings of some proper names would even indicate that he has before him some Tamil or such source. I learn from Prof. Hiralal that this story is not traceable in the Hindi translation of the Sanskrit Punyäsravakathākoša of Rāmacandra Mumukşu. (Translated by Pt. Premi, Bombay, 1907).
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
