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Śvetāmbara Scholars on Kundakinda: An Appraisal
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Upanişads. Dhaky's translation of bahirātmä as "outer self, or outer body” and paramätmä as “Absolute Self", reflects his total ignorance of the Jaina concept of Paramātman, which is quite different from the Upanişadic Brahman as explained by Upadhye" and the present writer.“! Moreover, several verses in Pūjyapāda's works Istopadeśa and Samadhi-sataka correspond to and are almost exact reproductions of verses in Kundakunda's works; and
(c) Since unlike Pūjyapāda, Samantabhadra and Akalanka were epistemologists, logicians, there is nothing unusual if they did not refer to or quote from Kundakunda's spiritual works. Moreover, following Dhaky's logic one may ask that if Kundakunda belonged to a later date than these three Digambara thinkers, then why did Kundakunda not refer to them in any of his works. It may be that in those days it was not so casy to come across other thinkers' hand copied works, even when those works belonged to their own tradition. Hence, merely on the basis that the works of one thinker were not referred to by the others it cannot be decided as to who preceded and who followed.
(2) Secondly, Dhaky states that why no commentaries were written on Kundakunda's works “for eight or nine centuries that may have followed his writings”. 42
In this regard, the following observation of Śvetāmbara Jaina scholar Sagarmal Jain is quite relevant. He states:
The use of paper was not common in India and the practice of getting books/scriptures written on bhojapatra or tādapatra leaves and preserving them was against the mental disposition (bhāvanā) of non-violence and non-possessiveness of the Jaina ascetics (munis). Also up to 5th Century AD, this type of work was considered a sinful activity for which there was legal system of punishment.^.
Accordingly, the task of preserving and keeping in safe custody the manuscripts of canons/scriptures of Digambara tradition written on tāďapatras in South came to be performed by the Bhattarakas, who were head of religious establishments (matha) and as such were not considered Digambara ascetics.
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