Tattvartha Sutra

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

Page 33

TATTVĀRTHA SŪTRA
Pattāvali of the Tapāgaccha-composed in the 16th and 17th centuries—then no Svetāmbara text, pattāvali etc. contain even an indication to the effect that Vācaka Umāsvāti, the author of Tattvärthasūtra, was the preceptor of Syāmācārya.
It is a matter of veritable puzzlement how so much misunderstanding could have become current when there was all the while available that eulogy-to-the-text appended to Tattvārthasūtra, eulogy which was composed by Vācaka Umāsvāti himself, which yields information about his familial as well as preceptorial lineage, which is vitiated by not even a trace of doubt. However, the riddle gets resolved when attention is bestowed on the sectarian befuddlement and the absence of a historical attitude that were characteristic of those older times. Really, for working out the history of Vācaka Umāsvāti the sole true means placed at our disposal is this brief eulogy composed by himself. Of course, there are numerous other incidents! regarding which the two sects believe that they took place involving him, but the traditions connected with them are yet to be examined and cannot be taken to be literally true. Here is the eulogy in question followed by a summary of its content.
Vācakamukhyasya śivasriyaḥ prakāśayaśasaḥ praśisyeņa || śisyeņa ghoșanand ikşamaṇasyaikādaśāngavidaḥ ||1||| vācanayā ca mahāvācakaksamanamundapādaśisyasya | śisyeņa vācakācāryamūlanāmnaḥ prathitakīrteḥ 1|2|| nygrodhikāprasūtena viharatā puravare kusumanāmni || kaubhīşaņinā şvātitanayena vātsīsutenārghyam ||3||| arhadvacanam samyaggurukramenāgataṁ samupadhārya | duḥkhārtaṁ ca durāgamavihitamatim lokamavalokya ||41| idam uccair nāgaravācakena sattvānukampayā drbdham || tattvārthādhigamākhyaṁ spastam umāsvātinā śāstram ||5||
1. E. g. the Digambara narration related to grdhra-piccha (Vulture's feature) and the Svetāmbara narration related to the composition on his part of 500—texts.