Pravachansara

Author(s): Vijay K Jain
Publisher: Vikalp Printers

Page 15

Preface
ii) Suttapāhuda or Sūtrapāhuda (27 gathas) iii) Carittapāhuda or Cāritrapāhuda (45 gathas) iv) Bohipāhuda or Bodhapāhuda (62 gathas) v) Bhāvapāhuda (165 gathas) vi) Mokkhapāhuda (106 gathas) vii) Lingapāhuda (22 gathas)
viii) Śīlapāhuda (40 gathas) Besides these, the authorship of 'Rayaņasāra’is attributed to Ācārya Kundakunda. However, as its several versions have different number and sequence of gāthās, some scholars are indecisive about attributing this treatise to Ācārya Kundakunda.
Every treatise mentioned above is a profound masterpiece, composed on the strength of the knowledge that is beyond the senses - atīndriyajñāna. Even the best of brains found it difficult to comprehend and assimilate the Truth contained in these. This prompted some prominent and learned ācāryas, including Acārya Amộtcandra and Acārya Jayasena, to write elaborate commentaries on some of Acārya Kundakunda's works to help the ascetics as well as the laymen understand the concepts and tenets contained in these texts. Fortunate are those who are able to reach, read and assimilate the teachings contained in these Scriptures.
Ācārya Kundakunda is said to have written 84 pāhudas but only the ones mentioned above are existent today. All his compositions are in Prakrit language.
Ācārya Kundakunda's time
A.N. Upadhye (1935), in his exhaustive and scholarly Introduction to ‘Pracvacanasāra'has summarized as under:
"In the light of this long discussion on the age of Kundakunda wherein we have merely tried to weigh the probabilities after approaching the problem from various angles and by thoroughly thrashing the available traditions, we find that the tradition puts his age in the second half of the first century B.C. and the first half of the first century A.D. ..."
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