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12
INTRODUCTION.
This clearly means that the opinion of those who are the followers of the Sûtras ( Jain works ) is that the very life of literature is a word full of much sense and capable of being pronounced with ease and Prakṣita is the form of speech. In short, according to the followers of the Sûtras, the Sûtra form is the best form of literature and Prâkrita is the best language for them. Thus the argument that the use of the word as in verse (2) is a conclusive proof of the Sûtras having been composed by Trivikrama falls to the ground. Nor is it necessary to take the word as in the Tamil sense of 'proper', 'real', or 'true' as Dr. E. Hultzsch suggests in bis Preface to the Prâkțitarûpâvatâra.*
(3) The third verse glorifies the S'abdânus'âsana composed by Trivikrama. S'abdân us'âsana simply means grammar-togt isteyra sala. Trivikrama calls his commentary on the Sûtras by this name; just as the Bhâshyakâra Patañjali begins his exhaustive commentary by the words (3727 शब्दानुशासनम्.' The words सप्रत्यय are no doubt complimentary to himself, and startą7 is complimentary in so far as he has selected for his commentary a work in which the Sûtras are small. It cannot prove that the Sûtras are Trivikrama's own composition. The concluding verse
वक्तारस्सन्तु सर्वेपि स्वाभिप्रायप्रकाशने ।
स्वपराशयसंवादिकथास्वेकस्त्रिविक्रमः ॥ contrasts Trivikrama with other authors. The sense is that all speakers can easily express their own ideas; but Trivikrama alone is clever in expressing others' ideas faithfully. Here, the second half of the couplet would be without any purport if Trivikrama be the author of the Sâtras.
If the Sûtras were Trivikrama's own composition, at the end of the Pâdas or the Adhyâyas, we would have found words like N AFTUĦaai or words like faia#natia roma
* Vide p. V. of Siwharâja's Prâkṣitarûpâvalâra, edited by Dr. E. Hultzsch.
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