Studies in Haribhadrasuri

Author(s): N M Kansara, G C Tripathi
Publisher: B L Institute of Indology

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Introduction and that there are references to this goddess as Kottāryā in the Niśītha Cūrņi and in the Kuvalayamālā where she is regarded as Durgā.
Prof. N. R. Banerjee presents a study of the three chapters pertaining to the construction of Jain temple, installation of images, and offering of worship, from Haribhadra's Sodasaka. This paper concerns itself with the chapter on the Jina-mandira-sodaśaka, which is the sixth among the sixteen chapters of the whole work. The precepts in it are contained in the verses composed in Āryā meter and they are elucidated by two commentaries, viz., Sugamārtha-kalpanā by Yaśobhadra and Yoga-dīpikā by Yaśovijay. Upādhyāya. Of these two, the former is brief while the latter is more detailed. The viewpoints are delightfully modern and humanistic as well as scientific. It states among other things that only those who have earned their wealth righteously and have set aside sizeable fund, are intelligent favourably inclined, and are known for their rectitude are entitled to undertake the construction of a temple. The land on which a temple is to be built should be pure, and along with the land, the bricks and the stones to be used should be acquired by paying proper price to the owner, so that he does not suffer nor is he harassed. The wood to be used in the construction should be of good quality and drawn from the trees grown in sacred places. The workmen of all categories employed were to be paid adequately. Thus, there is no doubt that Haribhadra's approach to life was so much objective and scientific as to command acceptance in modern times.
Dr. S. P. Narang highlights the role of Haribhadra as an advocate of eve-salvation, and he has based it on the Lalita-vistarā, the commentary on the Caitya-vandana-sūtra. At the end of his paper the author has drawn the following conclusions: (i) Digambaras negated the salvation of woman, whereas by the sixth century AD they had been divided over the issue, particularly the sages belonging to the Yāpanīya Samgha believed in the