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Sec. 4. HISTORICAL POSITION OF THE T.S.
wrote the section of Jainism in his Sarvadarsanasangraha on the basis of the T. S. The dissemination of Jaina philosophy to the non-Jainas started earlier in the South much owing to the existence of the T. S. and is commentaries which were composed in the common language of Sanskrit.
The T. S. tbus stood at an intersecting point in the literary history of the two traditions which began immediately after the canonical period. Here the South began with the prakarana period and the West entered the commentarial period, and the age of logic commenced in both traditions. The T. S. thus contributed itself as one of the substantial works for the composition of the pro-canonical texts in the South, and it contributed to preparing for the arrival of the age of logic in the history of the Jainas. Its value in the context of the Jaina literary history would become self-evident if we reflect upon the case of its absence. If Umāsvati did not compose the T. S. at the end of the classical age, the literary activities of the Jainas would have taken a different course: the arrival of the age of logic in both schools would have been much delayed, and the composition of the procanonical works in the South would have greatly suffered. And if Umāsvati wrote the T. S. in Prakrit in the form of composition other than a prakarana by merely epitomizing the contents of canon without consulting the non-Jaina texts, its value and position in the literary history of the Jainas would have been totally different.
The basic value of the T. S. remains in its nature as the standard text of Jaina philosophy, which is ever capable of nourishing and developing the thought-world of the students of Jainism. As such it his caused the Jainas in both traditions throughout ages to write numerous co.nmentaries on it, and as such it has attracted the religious minds of the Jainas as their Bible.
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