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THE ADYAR LIBRARY BULLETIN
Udayaprabha's other works furnish any evidence of his deep interest in the philosophy of grammar or language. Therefore, the other possibility worth considering is that the Sabdabrahmollāsa is simply a stotra unique in that it was written to celebrate the manifestation of the highest principle through speech. The extant verses appear to be written in this spirit. The author seems to be deliberately using words with sectarian flavour in such a way as to impress upon the reader the thesis that they all ultimately refer to the same highest principle,
The tendency to identify the Jina or the Arhattattva with the highest principles of other systems is found to a certain extent in the works of other Jain scholars as well. It is said to have been in vogue since the time of Siddhasenadivakara and Samantabhadra. The Bhaktamarastotra (verses 24-26), Haribhadrasūri's Dvātrimśikā (verses 4, 5), Nayavimala's Srisankheśvara-pārśvaprabhustotra (verse 20) are examples of the same tendency. However, Udayaprabha uses such identifications not just in a passing remark, but seems to express through them his consciously cultivated view about the role of language in speaking of the highest principle. He may have even set forth that view in the now lost portion of the Sabdabrahmollāsa. This guess is supported by the fact that Udayaprabha once mentions the view sarvārthavācakāḥ sarve sabdaḥ, usually attributed to the grammarians, and puts it to test, as it were, in many verses of the available portion. The conscious synthesis of religious and
