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XXXIV : TATTVĀRTHA SŪTRA
branch of monks, mentioned in the laudatory composition ibid, to which Vācaka Umāsvāti belonged originated. On the basis of information available in the roll of masters (Sthavirāvalī) in the Kalpa Sūtra it has been deduced that the period of Arya Śāntiśrenika, the originator of this branch, is around the middle of the second century BC. This sets the limit that Vācaka Umāsvāti's period cannot be earlier than this."
One of the earliest commentaries on 'Tattvārtha Sūtra'. besides the author's own ‘Bhāsya', is the Sarvārthasiddhi by Pūjyapāda. The scholars have fixed his period as the fifth century AD. It can be concluded that Vācaka Umāsvāti 's period was some time before this.
Pt. Sukhlal Sanghvi has concluded that the earliest period of Vācaka Umāsvāti could be the 1st century VE and the latest could be the 3rd or the 4th century of the same era.16 Dr. Nemi Candra Shastri, in his well researched work on 'Critical History Of Prakrit Language And Literature', has quoted that on the basis of a Samskrta verse in ‘Vidvajjana Bodhaka Grantha', Vācaka Umāsvā ti could be a contemporary of Kundakundācārya (Circa 243 AD)!? According to Dr. Suzuko Ohira the date of Tattvārtha Sūtra and consequently that of Vācaka Umāsvāti is somewhere in the latemiddle of the century AD.18 Dr. Sagarmal Jain is of the view that Umāsvāti lived and worked sometime between the 1.
Preface to Tattvārtha Sūtra, Sukhlal Sanghvi, Jaina Samskrti
Sansodhak Mandal, Varanasi, 1952, p. 9. 16 Ibid, p. 9. 17 Dr. Nemi Candra Šāstrī, Prākrta Bhāṣā Aur Sāhitya Ka Ālocanā
tmaka Itihāsa, I Ed., 1988, Varanasi, p-223. 18 A Study of Tattvārthasūtra With Bhāsya, ibid, p. 137. Jain Education International For. Private & Personal Use Only
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