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INTRODUCTION.
The present volume contains the first section, namely Kriti Anuyo. gadvåra, out of the twenty four sections included in the last three Khandas, namely, Vedanā, Vargınā and Mahābandha of Bhutabali as well as the Culikā of Virasena, as has already been shown in the introduction to part 1 of this series. The Kriti and Vedana Anuyogadvāras constitute the Vedanā Khanda which is so named because of the importance of the second Anuyogadvāra as shown by the long space devoted to its treatment
The word Kriti means action, and the present section which goes by that name deals with the formation and dissolution of the corporeal matter in the five kinds of bodies, namely, Audărika, Vaikriyika, Ahäraka, Taijasa and Kärmana possessed by the living beings, under the usual eight categories i. e. Sat, Sankhya, Kshetra, Sparshana, Kåla, Antara, Bhăva and Alpa-bahutva.
One noteworthy feature of this part of Şatkhandāgama is that it contains forty-four benedictory Sūtras, the authorship of which is attributed by the commentator Vírasena to Gautama the chief disciple of Tirtham kara Mahāvīra himself. The sime Sūtras are also found included in the Yoniprābhrita, a work of Mantra Vidyā, traditionally attributed to Dharasena the teacher of Pushpadanta and Bhūtabali. The Sūtras, thus, lend support to the tradition regarding the authorship of Yoni.prābhrita.
Inspite of the presence of the benedictory Sūtras at the beginning of the work, the Vedanā Khanda has been called by Vīrasena as 'AnibaddhaMangala' because the author Bhūtabali has not himself composed the Mangala. But the Jivatthana Khanda has been called Nibaddha Mangala', which shows that, according to Virasena, the Namokāra formula which forms the Mangala of Jivaţthāņa was originally composed by Pushpadanta himself. This was fully discussed by me in the introduction to Vol. II and the position taken by me there remains so far unaltered.
The historical survey of the Jaina Sangha and its scriptures found in this section is for the most part a repetition of what had already been said in the introductory part of Vol. I. There are, however, a few more interesting details regarding the life of Lord Mahāvira.
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