Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 3

Author(s): R P Poddar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 58

verses.
THE PRAKRIT WORKS ATTRIBUTED TO KUNDAKUNDA
author might have collected together the traditional verses, in many places the topical discussion is disturbed by the same idea repeated; some gathas (6 etc.) are called Siddhant-Sütiani by Amṛtacandra, sometimes groups of gathas which are a compact body in themselves but have little connection with the context, are met with here and there (71-72 ); and the socalled-Mokşa- cülika is as good an independent section. So Kundakunda might have compiled this work out of the great range of traditional verses that he might have inherited from his teachers."
Now it is a matter of serious investigation to recollect the traditional
Samaya-pahudaR
Sa naya-pāhuḍa popularly known as Samaya-sara, is considered to be the best work attributed to Kundakunda. According to Amṛtacandra's SK Commentary it contains 415 gāthās and according to Jayasena's SK Commentary 442 gāthās. I do not want to go into the details of the contents but want to draw the attention of the scholars towards Dr. Upadhye's comments on Samaya-sara. He writes in his introduction to Pravacana-sara, "When the text is read without using the commentaries one feels that groups of traditional verses are intruding on the context indicating perhaps that many traditional verses were included, when this text came to be so shaped by Kundakunda."
49
Pavayana sara
Pavayaṇa-sara or Pravacana-sara is another major work attributed to Kundakunda. This name of the work is mentioned only in the last verse of the text,10 After Dr. Upadhye's masterly study of Pravacanasara hardly any scholar would dare to handle the text for further study. Still I feel that from the point of restoring the traditional verses the Pravacana-sāra also requires a fresh study.
Niyama-sara
Niyama-sara is attributed to Kundakunda only on the authority of the Sanskrit commentator Padmaprabha. The text, as preserved in his commentary, contains 187 gathās, but Kundakunda-Bharati records 186. This work also contains some traditional gāthās which are found in some other works attributed to Kundakunda as well as in Mulăcăra.
Bara a Anuvekkha
It contains 91 gāthās dealing with twelve anuprekṣās or reflections.
8. See the opening and the closing verses.
9. Upadhye, A N., Introduction to Pravacana-sara, p. 45
10. जो सो पवयणसार लहुणा कालेन पप्पांदि ।