Studies In Umasvati And His Tattvartha Sutra

Author(s): G C Tripathi, Ashokkumar Singh
Publisher: Bhogilal Laherchand Institute of Indology

Page 9

Foreword
Umāsvāti alias Umāsvāmi is one of the earliest and the most illustrious authors of the Jain philosophical views. His Tattvārtha [-adhigama-]sūtra is hailed as the bedrock of the Jain philosophy and enjoys the same prestige among the Jainas as perhaps the Bhagavadgītā among the Hindus or the holy Bible among the Christians. It is also one of the very few texts which is highly revered and held in high esteem by both the Shvetambaras and the Digambaras.
Literally translated, the word tattva, synonymous with the Buddhist expression 'tatha-tā', means 'that-ness', i.e. 'reality' or 'true nature'. The quest of this ‘reality does not stop at the level of the investigation of the physical world but extends far beyond to the domain of the Divine and still higher to the level of the Ontological. The Tattvārthasūtra has been composed in the Sutra style, a concisely expressed and methodologically arranged composition, much like the earlier works of other 'Āstika'schools of thought like Mimansa, Vedanta and Vaisheshika. There are around 350 Sutras (a little less or more according to the two factions of the Jainas) composed in Sanskrit and the work is usually assigned by the scholars to c. 400 ce. A comprehensive commentary (bhāshya) is also available on the work which is believed by many to be the work of Umasvati himself, although many others express their doubts on it. There are also Vārttikas on the text and a host of commentarial literature embellishes it.
The Tattvārthasūtra summarizes the religious views, philosophy, ethics and the cosmology of the Nirgranthas, which