Study of Tattvarthasutra with Bhasya

Author(s): Suzuko Ohira
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 41

Sec. 2. SAMBANDHAKĀRIKA
plots leading to the theme of Lord Mahāvira, for whose biography's sake 1/3 of the total kārikās is spared.
The essential three kārikās read, 'krivā tri-karana-suddham tasmai paramarsaye namaskārm/ pūi yatamāya bhagavate yirāya vilinamohāyal/21/1 fattvārthādhigamākhyam bahv-arthem sangraham laghu-grantham/vaks yāmi śişya-hitam-imamarhad-vacanaikadeśa sya|/22// na rte ca mokşamārgād-dhitopadeśo'sti jagati krtsne'smin/ tasmāt-param-imam-eveti mokşamārgam pravaksyāmi //31//. The first kārikā is a verse of salutation, while the rest convey us the first-hand information of the work as to its nature and theme. The nature of the work is said here to be bahv-artham sangraha of arhad-vacanaikadeśa, which echoes in the puspika at the end of each chapter (excepting Ch. III), ' tattvārthādhigame'rhat-prayacana-sangrahe' and in the similar expressions. The real task attempted and accomplished by the author of the T. S. is to summarize the contents of the canon within the scheme of seven tattvas, for which moksamárga is used as a guiding theme. Since the Bhāşya portions are altogether dropped from the Digambara version, Pūjya pada and the following commentators on the T. S. in the South, even though having duly emphasized the theme of moksamārga, paid least attention to the T. S. as such. Actually there was no need for them to emphasize this aspect, because since the beginning of their literary activities, the T. S. was received in the South in the capacity as such replacing the contents of the canonical texts redacted at the Third Valabhi Convention. At any event, the exact nature of the work attempted by the author is expressed in the s. kārikā and puspikā alone in the Sabhāşya T. S. but in no other place.
The author of the s. kārikā utters a desperate outcry that the task he has begun is such a difficult kind (23-26), nevertheless he is somehow encouraging himself to get over with it in order to gain benefit for himself and for the other from the achievement of this work (27-30). This portion of kārikā expressing the author's private world is worthy, because this is an exceptional place in Sabhāşya T, S. where his inner struggle in fulfilling the task is so vividly conveyed with a tone of unrestrained emotional flow that the readers can meet him person to person. Umāsvāti wrote the T. S. in the Gupta age when all the rest of the philosophical schools had come to possess their own standard texts. The Jainas could not have been left behind, and the T. S. was the need of hour. With this historical background, we can well understand the position of the author here who imposed this difficult task upon himself. This portion enables us to appreciate the motivation and purpose of author in composing the work, otherwise it is utterly an unnecessary part in the context, for it does not help to comprehend the nature and content of the work itself. As such, this portion would not have existed if the s. kārika were written by someone other than the author himself. Neither the genuine nature of this expression can be imitated or composed by the others.