Vajjalaggam

Author(s): M V Patwardhan
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society

Page 14

INTRODUCTION
xiil
tor we have no other authority for holding that the name of the author of the present anthology was Jayavallabha. Prof. Velankar's Jinaratnakośa (Poona, 1944), contains an alphabetical register of Jaina works only and not of Jaina authors and hence it is not possible to know from it whether there were any other Jaina authors having this name. ? According to Laber ( loc. cit. p.0, footnote ), a Jayavallabha is mentioned as the author of a work called 121 12214161 (in the author.index in Peterson's fourth Report, Bombay, 1894, p. XXXII), though according to Peterson himself this name Jayavallabha is a mistake for Jayakīrti. Jayavallabha, as the name of the author, perhaps means “fond of victory i.e. " victorious." Or Jayavallabha may be looked upon as standing for Jagad. vallabha " dear to or loved by the (whole) world.”
If we accept the commentator's statement regarding the name of the author, we shall have to suppose that the author either gave his own name to the anthology compiled by him, or adopted the name of the anthology as a pen name for himself,
We do not know of any other work or works written by the author of the VL.
(iii) Name of the Commentator :
The name of the commentator on the VL is given as Ratnadeva in the colophon of Ms E used by Laber ( Deccan College Library, No. 420) and in the colophon of Ms. I (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute Mss Library, No. 1358 of 1887-88 ) consulted by me. The colophon reads as follows:
1. MS F however mentions Jayavallabha as the author of the present work, both in the beginning and the end. See infra, page lix.
2. Prof. Gore ( Introduction, p. iii-iv) remarks that the name Jayavallabha is not altogether otherwise unknown among the Jainas, and that one Jayavallabha of Kharataragaccha is known to have copied in Samvat 1634 a manuscript of the picy 12/11 of the teacher 17hsulot as is seen from Peterson's Second: Report, p. 128.