Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c5.s13.t4: (4) Ṭīkā
Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c5.s13.t4
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(4) Ṭīkā
c5.s13.t4.1
Haribhadra Sūri (705-775 A.D.) was a most distinguished and versatile writer, who is considered to have written for the first time the commentaries on the Canons in Sanskrit, retaining the Prākṛt narratives in their original form. He has written commentaries on Āvassaya, Dasaveyāliya, Nandi and Anuyoga. He is also said to have written a commentary on the Pannavaṇā, which is now lost.⁵⁴ After Haribhadra comes Śīlānka Sūri, who lived about a century later and wrote commentaries on the first two Aṅgas with the help of Vāharigaṇi in about 862 or 872 A. D. He is also said to have written commentaries on the remaining ten Aṅgas which are lost now. Then we come to the commentators Vādivetāla Śānti Sūri and Devendragani, otherwise known as Nemicandra Sūri in the eleventh century. They wrote separate but exhaustive commentaries on the Uttarajjhayara retaining the narratives in Prākṛt, in the manner of Haribhadra Sūri. The famous Abhayadeva Sūri also belongs to this period. He wrote commentaries on nine Aṅgas (III-XI) and the ovāiya. His commentaries on the latter and the Nāyādhammakahā were revised by great Droṇācārya, the author of the commentary on the Ogha Niyutti. Then comes Maladhārī Hemacandra, a senior contemporary of Ācārya Hemacandra and a pupil of Abhayadeva, who commented on Anuyogadvāra Sūtra. Malayagiri was another important author who wrote commentaries on six Upāṅgas (II-VII). His commentary on the Jambuddīvapaṇṇatti is said to have been lost, and that on the Pannavaṇā is based on Haribhadra's. He also wrote commentaries on Vyavahāra Bhāṣya, Piṇḍa Niyutti, Āvasyaka, Bṛhatkalpa Bhāṣya (incomplete) and Nandi. He completed his commentary on Nandi in 1235 A. D.⁵⁵ Kṣemakīrti completed the commentary on the Bṛhatkalpa Bhāṣya in 1276 A. D. Then Vijayavimala wrote his commentaries on the Taṇḍulaveyāliya and Gacchācāra in 1578 A. D.; Śānticandra, a pupil of Hīravijaya on the Jambuddīvapaṇṇatti in 1594 A. D., and Samaya Sundaragaṇi on the Kalpa Sūtra in the 17th century A. D.⁵⁶ Besides, a large number of Dīpikās, Vṛttis, ṭīkās, and Avacūris were written on the canonical literature of the Jains, several of which do not exist now. In the ṭīkā literature, the commentaries on the Āvassaya, Uttarajjhayana, Bṛhatkalpa Bhāṣya, Vyavahāra Bhāṣya, Ānāṅga, Bhagavai, Jambuddīvapaṇṇatti and Kalpa Sūtra are most valuable since they have recorded various important traditions.
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⁵⁴ The Commentary of Malayagiri on Pannavaṇā, p. 611.
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⁵⁵ Winternitz, op cit., p. 392.
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⁵⁶ For other commentaries on the Kalpa Sūtra see the Introduction to the Kalpa Sūtra by Prof. H. D. Velankar, Surat, 1939.
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Thus the period of the Jain Canons and their commentaries extends from the second century B. C. to the seventeenth century A. D.
Linked texts (17)
- Uttarajjhayaṇa — Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit
- Nāyādhammakahāo — Sudharman, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit
- Piṇḍanijjutti — Bhadrabāhu & Bhadrabāhu II, Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit
- Dasaveyāliya — Śayyambhava, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit
- Aṇuogaddārāiṃ — Āryarakṣita, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit
- Nandī — Devavācaka, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit
- Bṛhatkalpalaghubhāṣya — Saṅghadāsagaṇi Kṣamāśramaṇa, Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit
- Kalpasūtra — Bhadrabāhu, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit
- Uvavāiya — Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit
- Āvassaya — Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit
- Pannavaṇā — Śyāmārya, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit
- Ohanijjutti — Bhadrabāhu & Bhadrabāhu II, Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit
- Taṃdulaveyāliya — Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit
- Viyāhapannatti — Sudharman, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit
- Jambuddīvapannatti — Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit
- Gacchāyāra — Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit
- Vyavahārabhāṣya (Kusumpragya Shramani, Jain Vishva Bharati, 1996) — Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit