Tattvartha Sutra

Author(s): Sukhlal Sanghavi, K K Dixit
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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the author lacked a historical approach-as a result of which things old, new and intermediate got badly mixed up. But as things stood, what Umāsvāti has been able to offer us was perhaps the utmost that was possible under circumstances. [As for the material collected in chapters one to five, the author's lack of a historical approach does not affect the over-all situation much-this being why these chapters are an extremely worthwhile introduction to the Jaina positions pertaining to the problems here under discussion).
In the following pages is being offered (besides certain appendices prepared by others) an English version of Pt. Sukhlalji's Hindi-Gujarati translation of and commentary on Umāsvāti's text as also an English version of his general introduction to this text. Each part of Panditji's performance has its own outstanding merit. Thus his translation of Umāsvāti's text enables us to unmistakeably follow the wording of this text while his commentary enables us to correctly grasp the purport of what this text says. The commentary in fact incorporates the best that was contained in the old standard commentariesparticularly the Bhāsya, Sarvārthasiddhi, Vrtti and Rājavārtika. As such this commentary can be used by an elementary student of Jainism as a very good substitute for those old commentaries, by an advanced student of Jainism as a very good stepping-stone to those commentaries. About these old commentaries themselves and their relative merit much detailed and valuable information is conveyed by Panditji himself in the course of his general introduction. However, the chief merit of this general introduction lies in the historical assessment here made of Umāsvāti's text, and of his personality-as also in the critical comparison here instituted between so many Jaina positions developed by Umāsvāti and certain parallel positions maintained in various nonJaina (i. e. Brahmanical and Buddhist) circles. All this can form a very good starting point for a serious research work on Jaina positions in general and on those positions as presented by Umāsvāti in particular.
K. K. Dixit
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