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Svetāmbara Scholars on Kundakunda: An Appraisal
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bhāva), which is neither pure nor impure though having the potentiality to become pure by getting rid of karmas and in the sense that jiva (soul or conscious entity) can never become non-soul, or non-li
r non-living (ajiva) material entity and ajiva can never become jiva; and that it can never assume or have the characteristic attributes of touch, taste, smell, etc. of non-living material entity or its modes or states of evolution (Amrtacandra's Commentary on Samayasāra, 6). The word Suddho'or 'śuddha'in Prakrit or 'śuddha'in Sanskrit means not only pure [in the sense of], faultless or blameless but also simple, unmixed, unequalled, alone, only (kevala), exclusively one's own, uncompounded, entire, whole.29 Moreover, in Jainism, including Kundakunda, the self is never "unchanging" or changeless but a dynamic, evolvent entity (pariņāmi-nitya), something stable in the midst of its changes, persisting through its modes, or one characterized by both continuity and change. Dhaky's Views in regard to the Date of Kundakunda
As regards the date of Kundakunda, A.N. Upadhye, in his extensive introduction to Pravacanasāra, has dealt with that subject in great detail." After examining the pros and cons of different views and arguments, he fixed his date in the beginning of the Christian era, which is generally accepted by Digambara Jaina scholars. Regarding Kundakunda's priority or posteriority to Umāsvāti, F.W. Thomas, in his 'Introduction' to Pravacanasāra, translated by Barend Faddegon, places Kundakunda prior to Umāsvāti. He observes: "Neither of the two writers makes mention of the other; but there are certain general considerations which seem to favour a priority on the part of Kundakunda.” As for Umāsvāti, Jacobi assigns him a date before the 6ih century A.D., while Von Glasenapp speaks of the 4th or 5th century A.D, Thomas remarks. Walter Schubring, in the Doctrine of the Jainas," places Kundakunda in the 2nd 3rd century AD. Dhaky, however, criticizes Schubring by stating that his opinion was based largely on the cursory observations made by pioneering German writers in Jaina Canonical literature”. 32 According to Dhaky,
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