Sambodhi 1998 Vol 22

Author(s): Jitendra B Shah, N M Kansara
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 26

Vol XXII, 1998
THE 'BAUDDHA-SANTANA
Notes and References 1 See Dvādaśāram nayacakram, pt 1, (Ed. Muni Jambūvijaya), Bhavnagar 1966,
'Introduction' (Sanskrt) pp 14-17 & Introduction' (Gujarāti) pp 49-50 On the basis of a notice in the Prabhāvaka-carita of Prabhācandrācārya of Rāja-gaccha (A. D 1277), which records Mallavādı defeating the Buddhists at Bhrgukaccha in Vira Samvat 880 / A. D 353 Muni Jambüvijaya places the famous dialectician in the fourth century A. D However, this date cannot be correct since Mallavādı had commented upon Siddhasena Diväkara's Sanmatiprakarana Hence he has to be placed later than c A. D 450 Moreover, Mallavādı, in his Dvādaśāra-nayacakra, cites a gātha each from the Avasyaka-niryuktı ( A D 525) and also from the Brhatkalpabhäsya ( A D 550) Also, at several places, he refutes Dinnāga ( AD 480-540) Hence he is best placed in the latter half of the sixth century A. D (Cf Jitendra Shah, "Vādindra Mallavādı Ksamāśramana-no Samaya”, Nirgrantha Vol I, Ahmedabad 1996, Gujarāti section, pp
1-11) 2 Muni Jambūvijaya dates him before A. D 625 since Simhaśūra takes no notice of
Dharmakārt's positions However, two objections to this dating are palpably present First, Simhaśūra's grand disciple Siddhasena-ganı's commentary on the Sa-bhāsya Tattvärthadhigama-sūtra of Vācaka Umāsvāti reveals familiarity with the work of the Southern Nigrantha dialectician and epistemologist, Akalankadeva, particularly his Tattvārtha-vārtika, which is to be dated some time in the second quarter of the eighth century A. D Hence Siddhasen's Vrtti cannot be placed earlier than c. A D 760-770 On this reckoning, and granting Siddhasena-an abbatial pontiff-a long span of life, his grand-preceptor Simhaśūra's Vrtti on the Dvādaśāra-nayacakra can at the earliest be placed c A. D 675 During my examination of the various early commentaries of the Northern Nigrantha writers, I noticed that, to those Jaina writers of north who wrote before A. D 700, the southern works, be they Brahmanical, Buddhist, or Nirgranthist, were unavailable for consultation Hence the seventh century writers took no notice of the works of the famous Mimāmsaka thinker Kumārıla Bhatta, the great Buddhist philosopher and epistemologist Dharmakirts, and the equally great Nirgrantha authors such as Samantabhadra ( A D 550-625) and Pujyapāda Devanandı (active c A D 650-680)
3 Among the more notable of his several works for our purpose are the Tattvärtha
värtıka and the Laghıyastrayi. 4 Particularly his Tattvärtha-sloka-värtika. 5 In has first appeared in Śrī-siddhasena-Duvākara-krta-granthamälā, Bhavnagar Vs