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CHAPTER 14
Who is the Author of the Pañca-sūtra: Cirantanācārya or Ācārya Haribhadra?
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ŠĪLACANDRAVIJAYA GAŅI?
The Pañca-sūtra is a treatise that enjoys great respect among the Jaina ascetics since its composition many centuries ago. It contains a record of essentially spiritual experience, presented in a systematic way with a view to help the aspirants achieve sublimation of their souls and purity of their hearts. It is a pleasant work offering the subject in short, beautiful sentences in the Prakrit language. In spite of its being a short treatise, it is vastly popular.
The.venerable Haribhadrasūri has composed a brief and beautifully easy commentary on it, which is published in various editions. Its critical edition has been done by the Revered Muni Śrī Jambūvijayaji, and is recently published by the B. L. Institute of Indology, Delhi.?
Although this sacred work has been of lasting interest for the aspirants to self-realization and inner purity of heart, there has been thorough ignorance as to its real author. Those who have edited the text so far have tacitly accepted the traditional view that some Cirantanācārya composed it. The name of this supposed author of this work has been explained in two ways: (1) Cirantana means ancient, thus implying that it is the work
