Vijyanandsuri Swargarohan Shatabdi Granth

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

Page 803

students, adds up, in all essentials, to a selection of excerpts from ancient text and their commentaries, on a wide variety of subjects. The excerpts are properly referenced to facilitate quick location in the originals. The selection is a virtual boon to the researchers, the like of which is hard to come across. The Visesa samgraha was written at Lunakarnasara (Bikaner) in V.S. 1685.
Some of Samayasundara's works deal with Jaina rituals and other religious observances Cāturmāsa vyakhyāna (V.S. 1665), Grāvakārādhana (V.S. 1667) and Diksā-pratisthā sūddhi (V.S. 1685) belong to this class. The last work is distinguished by a profound discussion on astrological matters. Samayasundara was brilliantly helped in its composition by his grand pupil Jayakirti, who was well-versed in astrology. 29
His Kharataragaccha-pattāvali (KP) seeks to trace the genealogy of the pontiffs of the Kharatara-gaccha, right from Ganadhara Gautama, the first disciple of Lord Mahavira. Its value is immensely enhanced by the life accounts of the different Acāryās. appended to the tables. Samayasundara wrote the work at Khambat in V.S. 1690. The well-known Abhaya Jaina Granthalaya of Bikaner is said to be in possession of one of its MSS
Trnastaka, Raostaka, Udgacchatsurya bimbastaka and samasyastaka are some of the minor works of Samayasundara that are available in print. 31
Besides these original writings on a wide variety of subjects. Samayasundara has to his credit an equally large number of commentaries on ancient texts, both sacred and profane, that serve to establish him as a scholiast of no mean order. His commentaries concern themselves, not unlike his original works, with diverse disciplines. These seem to have been spurred by the keenness to meet the requirements, of his pupils in the monastry. In view of their succintness, most of the commentaries are appropriately called Vrttis. Only a few of them are available in prints, the other being scattered in various Bhandaras in the form of manuscripts which are hard to be secured for proper evaluation. Of the non-jaina works Samayasundara has chosen for elucidation, Kalidasa's Raghuvamsa and Kumara sambhava deserve special attention.
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Shri Vijyanand Suri Swargarohan Shatabdi Granth