Vijaydharmasuri

Author(s): A J Sunavala
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Page 82

XVII
LITERARY ACTIVITY OF THE MONK AND
ITS RESULTS
ORIGINAL WORKS WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED LET us now turn to the services of Vijaya Dharma Sūri in the domain of literature and summarize the results of his literary activity. The first original work composed by him is the Ahimsā-dig-darshana, the work in which he has embodied his arguments to show that the non-killing of animals is enjoined even by the Brahmanical Shāstras. This was followed by the publication of several other original works, the most important amongst which are the Brahmacharya-digdarshana, Purushārtha-dig-darshana, Indriya-parājaya-dig-darshana, Ātma-unnati-dig-darshana, the Jaina-shiksha-dig-darshana, and the Jaina-tattva-digdarshana, which is a summary exposition of the Jain philosophy. These treatises were composed during his stay in Benares and Calcutta. Most of them are of a polemic nature, dealing with controversial matters, containing discussions and disputations on moral and religious subjects of great utility and importance. They are written mainly with the object of making the general public acquainted with the essential and fundamental principles and truths of the Jain religion. Each of these books has enjoyed a very wide circula