________________ 10 L. Alsdorf profit from obtaining that(part of) srutajnana, For this reason the Pre-eminent Texts are forbidden to them." The above passage is versified by Jinabhadra in the two stanzas Visesavasyaka bhasya 551 f. and expatiated upon by Maladhari Hemacandra as follows: ............... Purvany abhidhiyante. tesu ca nihsesam api vanmayam avatarati; atas caturdasa-purvatmakam dyadasam evangam astu, kim sesanga-viracanena angabahya-sruta-racanena va? ity asankyaha : .. . jai - vi ya Bhuyavae savvassa vaomayassa oyaro nijjuhana, tahavi hu dummehe pappa itthi ya. 551 S a sesa-visesanvitasya samagra-vastu-stomasya bhutasya, sadbhutasya, vado, bhananam, yatrasau Bhutavadah; athava: anugata vyavittaprisesa-dharma-Kalapanvitanamm sabheda-prabhedanam bhutanam: praninam vado yatrasau Bhutavado, Drstivadah, dirghatvam ca takarasyarsatvat. tatra yady api Drstivade sarvasyapi vanmayasyavataro 'sti, tathapi durmedhasam, tad-avadharanady-ayogyanam mandamatinam, tatha sravakadinam striram canugrahartham niryuhara, viracana sesasrutasyeti nanu striram Distivadah kim iti na diyate ? ity aha : tuccha garava-bahula сal indiya dubbala dhije ya iya aises' ajjhayara Bhuyavdo ya no 'tthinam. 552 yadi hi Dristiyadah striyah katham api diyeta, tada cucchadi-svabhavataya aho aham, ya Drstivadam api pathami !' ity evam garvadhmata-manasasau purusaparidhava disv api pravritim vidhaya durgatim abhigachet, ato niravadhi-krpa-niraniradhibhih paranugraha-pravrttair bhagvadbhis tirthakrair Utthana-Samuttha-na srutadiny atisayavanty adhyayanani Drstivadas ca strinam nanu-janatah. anugrahartham punas tasam api kincic chrutam deyam ity ekadasangadi-viracanam saphalam. The passages quoted here might at first sight suggest that at the time of their composition the Drstivada still was a regular object of study for able-minded males; a more attentive reading will soon make it clear that on the contrary they merely testify to a firmly established if somewhat naive belief that "the Distivada contains everything" a belief obviously betraying complete ignorance of the real contents of the long-lost text and, on the other hand, conveniently permitting to derive from "the Destivada" or "the Purvas" any text or subject which it was desired to invest with canonical dignity. I know of no other paasage where the universality of contents of the Drstivada is claimed so openly and so bluntly, And this bluntness and naivety is no doubt the reason why, significantly; the great Haribhadra in his Avasyaka Tika omits our passage altogether : as in many other cases, he eliminates what he feels to be obsolete or what does not come up to his more exacting standard of refined scholarship; he may also have been reluctant to reproduce the somewhat scathing remarks about women, For the modern scholar, just what led him to reject the passage is apt to enhance its interest Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org
