Book Title: Story Of Rama In Jain Literature Author(s): V M Kulkarni Publisher: Saraswati Pustak BhandarPage 77
________________ Pauma-Cariya of Vimala Suri in accordance with grammatical rules." In a recent letter written to the present writer, however, he unhesitatingly accepts Jacobi's dating of the Paumacariya (about the end of the third century A.D.). Jacobi's hypothesis regarding the age of the Paumacariya finds strong support from Munisti Kalyanavijayji, who writes in his letter 7: 59 "An error has crept into the Gatha giving the date of the work through the carelessness of some scribe. The expression in the present text of the Gāthā must have originally read as तिसयवरिससंजुत्ता. Due to scribal error the syllable य from तिसय may have been left out and subsequently on noticing the metrical flaw fae may have been corrected to a." This emended text would give 274 A.D. as the date of the Faumacariya. "The age of the work could not", he asserts, "be earlier than the third century A.D., as it mentions 'lagra', etc., contains repeated exhortations to the people to perform the worship of the Jina-images, and 'Abhişeka' (ablution) and lays down that the people should consecrate Jina-idols in each and every house and con: demns the loose practices of Jain monks. These references better fit in with and indicate the Gupta age and not the first century of Vikram Samvat." Although it is hard to persuade oneself to agree with Muniśrt Kalyāṇavijayajl regarding his emendation, as it indicates an extremely unusual way of giving the date. of a work, his arguments based upon the 'Astavidha Puja, Abhiş:ka, Jina-PratimaPratisthapana, etc., are weighty and confirm Jacobi's late date for the work. 2. VIMALASURI'S LIFE It is, indeed, a misfortune that we have no biographical records of our wellknown ancient poets, playwrights or writers in other fields. The lack of reliable personal life-history produces a sense of something missing. All that Vimalasūri chooses to tell us is stated in the colophon of his Paümacariya. He gives his spiri tual lineage He was a pupil of Vijaya, who was the joy and glory of the Näilakulavama. Vijaya, in his turn, was a pupil of Rahu, who had mastered the doctrines of his own faith as well as those of his religious adversaries. It is clear that Vimalasuri like his teacher belonged to the same Nailakulavamsa. Munisti Kalyanavijayaji informs me that The Naila-Kula (vamsa) continued to be known as Nagila-kula or Nagendrakula up to the twelfth century (V S.). From that time. onwards it continued under the name Nagendragaccha and it altogether disappeared from the fifteenth century (V.S.). It appears from references in the exegetical works on the Sutras that the monks belonging to this Kula were somewhat of independent 35 Nagaripracāriņi Patrika (page 707), Part X, No. 4, Käsi. Samvat 1986. 36 Letter (in Hindi) dated 9th September, 1959. 37 Ibid., paragraph 2. The English translation of the original Hindi passages is free, but brings out his point of view correctly. 38 The use of the expression 'Dharma'abha' and the allusion to restoration of ruined Jain shrines also point in the same direction.Page Navigation
1 ... 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278