Religion and Culture of the Jains

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

Page 97

RELIGION AND CULTURE OF THE JAINS
The Avašyakaniryukti refers to later Jain ācāryas like Bhadragupta, Arya Simhagiri, Vajrasvāmin. Tosalīputra, Aryarakşita, Phalgurakṣita, Ārya Suhastin, etc., by name and alludes to events connected with them.37 The Uttarādhyayanasūtraniryukti not only mentions Sthūlabhadra with respect (he is styled Bhagavat), but also narrates the story of Kālakācārya who is well known in connection with the legends centering round Vikramāditya and thus assignable to the first century B.C.88 The Pindaniryukti names Pādalipta and Vajrasvāmin's maternal uncle Samita and relates the ordination of the Tāpasas of Brahmadvipa and the origin of the Brahmadvipika-śākhā.se And lastly, the Oghaniryukti represents its author as paying obeisance not only to saints possessing the knowledge of the fourteen Pūrvas, but also to those versed in ten Pūrvas and eleven Angas, 40 which can refer only to the post śrutakevalin period and would be anachronistic if the niryuktis were to be regarded as composed by the caturdaśa-pūrvin Bhadrabāhu.41 Not that the commentators of the niryuktis were not aware of these anachronisms; but the pressure of tradition weighed so heavily that they attempted to explain away these anachronistic trends by resorting to some ingenious devices. Thus, Sāntisūri in his gloss on the Uttarādhyayanasūtra observes that the presence, in the niryuktis, of illustrations alluding to later events should not lead one to suppose that they were composed by some other person, for that illustrious śrutakevalin possessing the knowledge of fourteen Purvas was capable of perceiving anything relating to the past, present and future. 42 Likewise, referring to the obeisance of the
37 Ibid., pp. 5-8.
38 For the original text, see ibid., pp. 7-8. (The Vikramāditya tradition is really much later. -Ed.]
39 lbid., p. 7. 40 Ar ahamte vardittă caüdasa-puvvi rah=eva dasa-puvvi/
Ekkäras-arga-suttattha-dharae savva-sähű ya (quoted from loc, cit.) 41 For some other anachronisms, see ibid., pp. 5-14.
42 Na ca kesāñcid-ih=odāharaņānāṁ niryukti-kālād=arvāk-kalabhävirà it
y any-oktatvam=āśarkaniyam, sa hi bhagavāmś caturdasapārva-vit śruta-kevali kāla-fraya-visayam vastu paśyatyseveri karham anya-kytary-dsarkā iti (ibid., p. 4).