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YASASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE
man would have thus believed in the Vedas. had they been without an author (as the Mimamsakas hold).1
While emphasizing the fact the Veda is composed by God and accepted by the vast majority of the people, the leaders of the Nyaya. Vaiseşika school adopt a rather contemptuous attitude towards the Scriptures of the minorities like the Buddhists and Jainas. Vacaspati in Nyaya-vārtika-tātparya-ṭīkā 2. 1. 68 contrasts the Vedas with the Buddhist and Jaina Scriptures composed by mere mortals who are neither Creators nor Omniscient Beings. Śrīdhara says in Nyayakandali (p. 217) that the Veda is known to be the work of a Superior Being (purusa-viseṣa), because its message is unquestioningly accepted by all who belong to the varnasrama order of society. If it were the work of an ordinary person, like the Scriptures composed by Buddha and others, not all discerning persons would unquestioningly act upon its teachings. That with regard to which there is a universal consensus of opinion (on the subject of its reliability) is bound to be an authoritative source of knowledge, like direct perception and similar means of cognition.3 Thus while the Vedic sacrificial religion was fast becoming a relic of the past, the authority of the Veda was constantly reaffirmed by Mimamsakas, Smärtas, and Nyaya-Vaiseṣikas alike. It is noteworthy Samkara in his Bhasya on even the Vedanta Sutras 3. 1. 25 supports in principle the slaughter of animals in Vedic sacrifices, and proclaims the purity of all rites prescribed by the Veda. The voice of Jaina criticism was not likely to be heard in an age characterized by a large-scale revival of Brahmanical thought, say, from about the seventh to the end of the tenth century.
that
1 कर्त्ता य एव जगतामखिलात्मवृत्तिकर्मप्रपञ्च परिपाकविचित्रताशः । विश्वात्मना तदुपदेशपराः प्रणीतास्तेनैव वेदरचना इति युक्तमेतत् ॥ आप्तं तमेव भगवन्तमनादिमीशमाश्रित्य विश्वसिति वेदवचःसु लोकः । तेषामकर्तृकतया न हि कश्विदेवं विस्रम्भमेति मतिमानिति वर्णितं प्राकू | Ibid., Book IV.
2 ' न चैते शौद्धोदनिप्रभृतयः तनुभुवनादीनां कर्तारो येन सर्वशा इति निश्चीयेरन् ।' See also Chap. IX.
3 'पुरुषविशेषप्रणीतः सर्वैर्वर्णाश्रमिभिः अविगानेन तदर्थपरिग्रहात् यत्किञ्चनपुरुषप्रणीतत्वे तु वेदस्य बुद्धादिवाक्यवत् न सर्वेषां परीक्षकाणामविगानेन तदर्थानुष्ठानं स्यात् यत्र च सर्वेषां संवादनियमः तत् प्रमाणमेव यथा प्रत्यक्षादिकम् । प्रमाणं वेदः सर्वेषामविसंवादिज्ञान हेतुत्वात् प्रत्यक्षवत् ।"
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