Vijyanandsuri Swargarohan Shatabdi Granth

Author(s): Navinchandra Vijaymuni, Ramanlal C Shah, Shripal Jain
Publisher: Vijayanand Suri Sahitya Prakashan Foundation Pavagadh

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is concluded, for instance, in the fourth Prakarana that Jamali would attain liberation after fifteen births. The author has upheld it on the basis of Hemacandra's Mahaviracarita.
The Vicārās'ataka also addresses itself to explain and solve a century of issues pertaining to Jaina philosophy, in a style not dissimilar from that of the preceding Sataka. Samayasundara meticulously adheres to the tested method of upholding the elucidation with scriptural texts. It has, however, resulted in an overabundance of doctrinal terminology creeping into the work. The Sataka consists of 100 Prakaranas with each section dealing with one problem, though some of the problems spill over in more than one Prakarana. The Prasasti proves it beyond doubt that Medata again formed the venue of its composition, attempted two years subsequent to the Visesasataka, in 1674.17
The Visamvada Sataka locates and enlists one hundred of such of the topics in the Canonical texts that are marked by bewildering inconsistency and contradiction. The author has wisely desisted from the frustrating task of explaining them away or otherwise smoothening them. The Visamvada Sataka is known to have been composed in V.S. 1685. The only known manuscript of the sataka, written in V.S. 1889 and preserved in the Abhaya Jaina Granthalaya, Bikaner, is unhappily corrupt and illegible.
Astalaksi or, Artharatnavali is undoubtedly the most pedantic work of Samayasundara and has been chiefly instrumental in ensuring him abiding glory. It represents an acme to the literary feat of multiple interpretation which has a long tradition in Sanskrit. Stung by the unkind charge, voiced at Akbar's court, that the Jaina sutras are imprecise to the extent of being liable to manifold interpretation, Samayasundara embarked upon the frightening task of proving its veracity, in true perspective, by extorting more than ten lakh meanings from the innocuous jumble of syllables. रा-जा-नो-द-द-ते-सौ-ख्य-म् (राजानो ददते सौख्यम्) However, on subsequent scrutiny, two lakh twenty thousand, four hundred and seven meanings were discarded as untenable, leaving the remaining eight lakh to impart the work the alternative appellation, it bears till date. Such literary gymnastics have doubtless fascinated the scholarly poets, but even the most erudite authors of the Samdhana kavyas tend to pale into insignificance before Samaya sundara's stupendous tour de force. On the author's own Shri Vijyanand Suri Swargarohan Shatabdi Granth
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