Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

An Account of the Different Existing Systems of Sanskrit Grammar c8: The Jainendra School

An Account of the Different Existing Systems of Sanskrit Grammar c8

Language
English

Contents

The Jainendra School

c8.1

47. The Jainendra School.—The traditional author of the aphorisms of grammar which go under this name is Jina or Mahāvīra, the last of the Tīrthaṅkaras. The tradition of the Digambara¹ Jains as embodied in several of their works such as Samayasundarasūri's commentary on the Kalpasūtras or Lakshmivallabha's Upadeśamālākarṇikā is, that Indra asked certain questions to Jina when of eight years, and had the science of grammar revealed to him by way of answers; the grammar in consequence came to be known by their joint name.³ A Ms. (no. 1223) belonging to Professor Kathavate's collection for 1891-1895 launches, in its marginal notes, into a detailed verification of this tradition, trying to answer all the objections raised aganist it.

c8.2

¹ The Jainendra-sūtrapātha belongs to the Digambaras from whom the Śvetāmbaras have borrowed it wholesale. The tradition, therefore, belongs more strictly to the Śvetāmbaras.

c8.3

The chief objection, of course, is the concurrent testimony of the colophons of all the Mss., which invariably ascribe the work to Devanandī. This is also confirmed by the introductory stanza—

c8.4

लक्ष्मीरात्महिती यस्य निरवद्यावभासते ।
देवंनदितपूजार्हं नमस्तस्मै स्वयंभुवे ॥

c8.5

which is given by all Mss.,³ wherein the first word of the second line, obscure in meaning as it is, appears to be purposely used to indicate the name of the author. Further, works like Dhanañjaya-kośa or Jaina-Harivaṁśa⁴ (A. D. 783) and writers like Bopadeva or Hemachandra refer to Devanandī as the author of this grammar. The point then may be regarded as fairly settled. This Devanandī is otherwise known as Pūjyapāda.

c8.6

² पविन्दाय जिनेन्द्रेण कौमारेपि निरूपितम् । ऐन्द्रं जैनेन्द्रमितितत्प्राहुः शब्दाशासनम् ॥

c8.7

³ Except the one above quoted, which gives a different maṅgala.

c8.8

⁴ In the opening praśasti of the work there is a reference to the Jainendra-vyākaraṇa. Akalaṅkadeva also quotes a Jainendra sūtra in the तत्त्वार्थराजवार्त्तिका i. 5.1.

c8.9

Dr. Kielhorn once believed that Pūjyapāda was a *nom de plume* assumed by a late writer, with the view all the more readily to make the work pass under the name of the last Tīrthaṅkara. The historical existence of the founder of this school thus doubted by Dr. Kielhorn has been conclusively established by Professor Pathak,¹ who quotes a verse from the Nandisaṅgha Paṭṭāvali² and gives other references to prove that Devanandi was no other personage than Pūjyapāda himself.

c8.10

¹ Indian Antiquary xii, pp. 19 ff.

c8.11

² यज्ञाकीर्तिश्चशैलन्धी देवनन्दी महा- यतिः। श्रीपूज्यपादापराख्यो गुणनेदी गुणाकरः॥

c8.12

48. Date of the Jainendra-vyākaraṇa.—The foundation of this school dates from about the same time as that of the Cāndra. If anything, the Jainendra would come a little before the Cāndra. Professor Pathak in his paper on the Jaina Śākaṭāyana (Indian Antiquary, Oct. 1914) gives evidence to assign the Jainendra-vyākaraṇa to the latter part of fifth century A. D. Among his arguments are: 1. the fact that the Kāśikā seems to betray a knowledge of the Jainendra-vyākaraṇa³; 2. the circumstance that the Jainendra sūtra⁴ alludes to Īśvarakṛṣṇa the author of the Sāṅkhya-kārikās (who is assigned by Dr. Takakusu to A. D. 450) and to the twelve year cycle of Jupiter according to the heliacal rising system⁵ a system which was in vogue in the time of the Early Kadamba kings and their contemporaries, the Early Gupta kings; and 3. the collateral evidence to be drived from later references to the Jainendra from the ninth century on. Thus the Śākaṭā- yana Śabdānuśāsana (which dates from 1025 A. D., as we shall see) is largely indebted to the Jainendra. A Digambara Darśanaśāstra of 853 A. D. mentions, as stated by Dr. Peterson,¹ a pupil of a certain Pūjyapāda as being the founder of a Draviḍa-saṅgha. Lastly, an inscription from the Śaṅkhabasti temple at Lakṣmeśvara records a gift in Śaka 652 (730 A. D.) of Śrī-Pūjyapāda to his house-pupil, although this last is not quite a trustworthy evidence, being not contemporaneous, and there may have been more than one Pūjyapāda.

c8.13

³ Kāśika iii. 3.40 उञ्यस्य प्रातिषेधो वक्तव्यः presupposes Jainendra sūtra ii. 3.36 हस्ताद्येऽद्यदस्ते- च ये, as Kāśika could not have derived it from elsewhere.

c8.14

⁴ Sūtra iii. 3.134—शारद्वच्छुनकदर्भा- श्चिशमेकृष्परणाद् भृगुवत्साभायण- इषगणब्राह्मणवसिष्ठे । Contrast Pāṇini, iv. 1.102. The Amoghavṛtti of Śakaṭāyana explains आग्निध्रायणो वार्धगण्यः, the latter being another name for Īśvarakṛṣṇa.

c8.15

⁵ Sūtra iii. 2.5 गुरुवयाआधुकोऽङ्गे।

c8.16

¹ Report for 1883-84, p. 74.

49. Character of the Jainendra-vyākaraṇa

c8.s1.1

There are two versions in which the Jainendra grammar has come down to us. The shorter one which consists of about 3,000 Sūtras is followed by Abhayanandi in his gloss on the grammar, while the longer one which, besides other minor differences in the wording and the arrangement of the sūtras, gives over 700 sūtras not found in the shorter version, is followed by Somadeva in his commentary called Śabdārṇavacandrikā, which, as he himself tells us, was composed in A. D. 1205. Professor Pathak has accumulated evidence tending to show that the longer version followed by Somadeva is the truer one, while that of Abhayanandi is much later.²

c8.s1.2

² Professor Pathak intends shortly to write a paper on the subject.

c8.s1.3

The Jainendra grammar is altogether wanting in originality. It is nothing but Pāṇini and the vārtikas condensed as much as possible. The merit of the work solely consists in the number of ingenuous shifts resorted to for the purpose of securing the maximum economy of words. Even the most trifling changes such as that of विभाषा or अन्यतरस्यां into वा, of सकृष्ण into स, and the alteration of the order of the words in the sūtras³ so as to produce by coalescence a syllable less are not disregarded. The Pāṇinīya pratyāhāras are retained without a change, though the fourteen Śiva-sūtras together with the section on Vedic grammar, are omitted. In addition, Devanandī has invented a large number of shorter technical terms¹ which bristle throughout his work and make its study the most complex imaginable.

c8.s1.4

³ Pāṇini vii. 1. 9 अतो भिस ऐस् is changed into भिस ऐस् ।

c8.s1.5

¹ Such as रूप for प्रत्यय, य for कर्म-धारय, म for परस्मैपद, आग for आधधातुक, and so on.

c8.s1.6

Devanandī alias Pūjyapāda has, as is the wont of most Digambara writers, nowhere quoted by name or acknowledged his obligations to authors and works not belonging to his own religion. He has in his sūtras quoted six names.² The Deccan College Ms. no. 1223 of 1891-95, which makes it its business to prove that the author of this grammar is Jina himself, gives on this point a rather incorrectly written note³ which tends to say that since one of the above names, that of Prabhācandra, which occurs in the sūtra रात्रेः प्रभाचन्द्रस्य, appears on the face of it to be a fiction, we may presume the same for all the rest. We can couple with this the statement of one of the commentators on Hemachandra's Dvyāśraya-mahākāvya to the effect that Siddhasena, another of the quoted names, was not a grammarian at all. Dr. Kielhorn similarly believed that all these names were fictitious and thought that the practice of thus quoting names honoris causa was not confined to the Jainendra school alone. Unfortunately we cannot decide the matter now.

c8.s1.7

² Namely, धीरच, यशोभद्र, श्रुतिवलि, प्रभाचन्द्र, सिद्धसेन, & समन्तभद्र.

c8.s1.8

³ अक्षेपऽवीच्य(?)तां स्फुटत्वात् । रात्रेः प्रभाचन्द्रस्यवत । देवर्नविमतां मोहः क्षेपपरसंतोषि चेत् । चिराय भवतां "रात्रे प्रभाचन्द्रस्य" जीयताम् ॥

c8.s1.9

50. Later history of the Jainendra-vyakarana.—The absence of any originality accounts for the paucity of works connected with this school. Two commentaries only have been preserved, one by Abhayanandī whose date is probably 750 A. D., and another called Śabdārṇava-chandrikā by Somadeva. Somadeva represents¹ himself as the contemporary of the Śilāhāra King Bhojadeva (Bhoja II) and an inhabitant of Ajurikā (which is probably to be identified with आजरें in the Kolhapur State). It is probable that in addition to these two commentaries that have come down to us, some others were written, and possibly the grammar was at one time made the object of diligent study; but our information on this point is extremely scanty.

c8.s1.10

¹ Compare the Colophon—स्वस्ति श्रीकोल्हापुरदेशान्तर्व्व्या जुरिकामहास्थान.....जिनालये.....श्रीमच्छि-लाहारकुलकमलमार्तण्ड......श्रीभोरभोजविजयराज्ये शकवर्षैकसहस्रैक-शतसप्तविंशतिसमशोधन संवत्सरे.... श्रीपूज्यपादव्याकरणरचितसा श्रीमत्सोमदेवसूनुविरचन &c.

c8.s1.11

There is also a recast of the Jainendra grammar meant to facilitate its study for beginners. It is called Pañchavastu, and, as is to be expected, it follows the shorter text of the sūtras as given by Abhayanandī. The work is said to be that of Devanandī; but this is clearly a mistake founded on the fact that the sūtras followed are those of Devanandī. The introductory section of the Pañchavastu which deals with the pratyāhāras seems to be an interpolation. This section mentions a person called Ārya-Śrutakirti² as the author of the whole work. Is he then the author of this recast? If so, the absence of any other allusion to him in the body of the work becomes rather curious. Professor Pathak mentions a Śrutakirti as having flourished about Śaka 1045.

c8.s1.12

² Indian Antiquary, x, p. 75; Dr. Peterson's Report for 1883-84, pp. 67 ff.

c8.s1.13

About the history of the Jainendra grammar since the thirteenth century very little definite is known. The work probably shared the fate of all imitations and ceased to be attended to when the original on which it was based came to be studied more and more. It was meant to appeal to a sect and even there it was not without a rival. To this day it draws a solitary student here and there from amongst the Digambara Jains, especially of Southern India.

Linked texts (5)