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६२ :
श्रमण/जुलाई-सितम्बर/१९९६
Extensive stock of Jaina exegetical literature, available in Prāksta, Sanskita and Gujarati languages, has primarily four types or classes - Niryukti, Bhāșya, Cūrņi and Vịtti, the last one includes Tabbă etc. also later explanatory works in its fold. The distinctive features of Niryukti (Prākrta verses) are Nikṣepa- analysis or systematic consideration and Ekārtha - synonym. It deals mainly with catchwords, through method of Nikṣepa. As L. Alsdorf has rightly remarked- 'Nikṣepa is applied first to the title of the canonical work to be explained, if this title is a compound one, to each of its constituents, subsequently to the titles of each chapter and subsections, lastly, perhaps to a few key words of the Sūtra text." One more observation of J. Charpentier about the composition of Niryukti is very significant and revealing. It says, "for the most important aim of the Niryukti is apparently to give a sort of the register of legends and tales which are used to illustrate the religious sentences and moral or disciplinary rules given in the canonical text. Thus, in nutshell, it may be said that Niryuktis deal with catch-words through Nikṣepa', gives synonyms of catch- word in some cases and alludes to parables.
Only ten Niryuktis, on the same number of Jaina canons, were composed, of which only eight are extant now. All the Niryuktis are traditionally attributed to Bhadrabāhu 14. But modern scholars ascribe these to Bhadrabāhu of A.D. 100, while some of the scholars, now a days, consider him to be the posterior to Vallabhi Synod II (c. A.D. 454/457). Prof. Sagarmal Jain in his earnest attempt to decide the date and authorship of Niryuktis, after studiously taking stock of the relevant original sources as well as arguments put forth by recent studies in this connection, has conjectured that the author of Niryuktis might be Arya Bhadra of Gautama clan. However, he did not claim his views to be final, thus, about date and original author of Niryuktis we do not yet have distinct intimation and the problem awaits still further investigation.
As regards the number of gathas of Daśāśrutaskandha Niryukti, my information is based on its published editions and on works
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