Studies in Haribhadrasuri

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

Page 94

Studies in Haribhadrasuri
clearly mentions that woman can attain salvation, although visà-vis man, she was not given the first priority in the maledominated Indian society. But Haribhadra has interpreted Puruşa as Puruşottama and thus propounded the view that both good men and women can attain salvation.”
Haribhadrasūri has refuted the ten arguments of his Pūrvapakșins that may be those of Digambara Jainism and has supported it by the Yāpanīya Tantra that been referred to in the earliest inscription of Avinīta (560 AD) discovered from Hoskote, Bangalore District, Karnataka. The main object of this paper is to reproduce the arguments for and against, together with the corroborative background wheresoever it is traced. Argument 1: Woman is a-jīva The woman is not Jiva, she is an a-jīva. This is the first reason for disqualifying her to attain salvation. The term Jiva may have two meanings here. First, she is not a being vis-à-vis the existence of 'man'. This state of non-being has not been recognized anywhere, Second, a-jīva may be understood in a philosophical sense. Jīva is identified with the soul, which though fundamentally similar to the concept in other philosophical schools, is still different from them in certain respects. Soul is eternal, uncreated and beginningless.5 Visà-vis Jiva, A-jīva is pudgala or matter. The concept of woman as “matter' is found in a number of speculations in India, e.g. in the Dharma-śāstras. The Sāṁkhya philosophy also, in a personified Prakrti, propounds her to be but matter and not fit for salvation. Here we can take the word A-jīva in the sense of ‘matter which is not eligible for salvation.
But Haribhadrasūri appears to be taking the word A-jīva in a general sense. Now the question is whether woman is thought to be an A-jīva. Haribhadra has established the relationship of Jīva with the performance and acquisition of the best ‘Dharma' which is interpreted by the Prakāśa Hindi Commentary as salvation (dharma moksa-kārana cāritra-dharma). It may be interpreted as attainment of the Highest Goal of becoming a Tirtharkara. Since