Religion and Culture of the Jains

Author(s): D C Sirkar
Publisher: University of Calcutta

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RELIGION AND CULTURE OF THE JAINS
As shown above, a late Svetāmbara tradition recorded by authors of the fourteenth and subsequent centuries of the Christian era mentions a certain Bhadrabāhu who is spoken of as a brother and rival of the astronomer-astrologer Varāhamihira.30 Although he is represented as a catur daśa-pūrvin, his alleged contemporaneity with Varāhamihira, whose date is known from his own works, seems to point to the existence of yet another Bhadrabāhu who lived in the sixth century A.D. We may call him Bhadrabāhu III. This Bhadrabāhu is credited with the authorship of a number of works including niryuktis on ten works of the Jain canon, an astrological treatise entitled Bhādrabāhavi Samhitā and a stotra consisting of five verses called Uvasaggaharapāsa. It is pertinent to note here that much earlier unanimous Svetāmbara tradition recorded in the niryukis, 31 bhāşyas 32 and cūrņis 8 of the Jain canon attributes the authorship of the Cheda-sūtras 84 to the caturdaśa-pūrva-dhara Bhadrabāhu.
A critical analysis of the above data would reveal that, from fairly early times, some confusion prevailed about the personages bearing the name Bhadrabāhu and that the activities of one Bhadrabāhu were often attributed to another bearer of this name. Thus, while both the Digambara and Svetām
30 Prabandhacintāmani, Prakāśa 5, pp 118-19; Prabandhakośa, Prabandha 1, pp. 2-4.
31 The niryukti on the Daśāśrutaskandhasūtra mentions Bhadrabahu as the author of the Daśāśrutaskandha, Kalpa and Vyavahāra. For the text of the verse, see Brhaf-Kalpasūtra with the niryukri, a bhäsya by Sanghadāsagani Kşamāśramaņa and a commentary by Malayagiri, edited by Muni Caturvijaya and Muni Punyavijaya, Vol. VI (Bhavnagar, 1942), Gujarati intro., p. 1.
32 The author of the Pancakalpamahābhāşya also refers to Bhadrabāhu as the composer of the Daśä, Kalpa and Vyavahara and repeatedly calls him suttakāra. For the original text, cf, ibid., p. 2.
33 The chūrni on the Pañcakalpabhāşya gives Bhadrabāhu the credit of composing the Acaraprakalpa or Niśithasútra, Daśā, Kalpa and Vyavahāra. For the text, see ibid., p. 3.
34 The Daśāśrutaskandha, Kalpa, Vyavahāra, Nisitha, Mahāniśitha and Pañcakalpa are known as Cheda-sutras.