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Śramana, Vol 59, No. 2/April-June 2008
It can be confirmed on various grounds that several chapters of Uttaradhyayana formed parts of Praśnavyākaraṇa. The very name of Uttaradhyayana itself indicates the fact that this text has been constituted out of the Uttara-adhyayanas of some earlier text. It implies that its subject matter must have been later part of any other text. The 4th verse of Uttaradhyayana-niryukti confirms that some parts of Uttaradhyayana have been adapted from the Anga literature. The real purport of this gāthā of Uttarādhyayana-niryukti is that some adhyayanas consisting of the discussion about bondage and liberation held between Jinabhāṣita and Pratyekabuddha have been taken from Anga texts. This statement of the author of Niryuktis throws light mainly on three points. Firstly, some of the adhyayanas out of the thirty-six adhyayanas of Uttaradhyayana are stated to be Jinabhāṣita (Mahāvīrabhāṣita). Secondly, some of them are put in the form of conversation of Pratyekabuddhas and thirdly, they have been taken from Anga literature. Naturally the question arises as to which was the Anga these parts of Uttaradhyayana were taken from. Some of the Acaryas have inferred that the chapters dealing with afflictions etc. have been taken from Dṛṣṭivāda but I don't subscribe to their view, which has got no base. The very subject matter would have been taken from the text containing the subject matter of Mahāvīrabhāṣita and Pratyekabuddha-bhāṣita. It was only Pras'navyākaraṇa, which could have such type of subject matter, and hence it would have been taken from this very text only. There is no controversy in accepting that some chapters of Uttaradhyayana are the noble sayings of Mahavira. Even if we accept that the 30th adhyayana of Uttaradhyayana and the gatha given at the end which is said to be Mahāvīra-bhāṣita is later addition and interpolation, the 24th gathā of chapter 18th of the same text, which is similar to this gāthā in content and antiquity from the language point of view, cannot be said to be interpolated. It proves also that many chapters of Uttaradhyayana have been the part of Praśnavyākaraṇa earlier. If we look at the speakers of the chapters of Uttaradhyayana, we find the chapters like For Private & Personal Use Only
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