महाबंधो (महाधवल सिद्धान्त-शास्त्र)- Mahabandho: Prakrti Bandhadhikara of Bhagvant Bhutabali (Set of 7 Volumes)

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We have great pleasure in placing before the literary world the first volume of Mahabandha alias Mahadhavala which was hitherto hidden in the Sastra Bhandar of Moodbidri (South Kanara.) It is one of the three most reputed and revered Jain canonical works, whereof Jayadhavala and Dhavald have seen the light of the day and have reached the hands of scholars. Ordinarily this Mahabandha is supposed to be as remarkable as the said two Sastras but as a matter of fact, this is worthy of greater attention, since it is the biggest Prakris sutra work consisting of forty thousand slokas, composed in the beginning of the Christian era.

This Mahabandha is the sixth part of the great Satkhandagama sutra. The commentary on the five parts is called Dhavala, composed by Acarya Virasen in the 9th century AD. during the reign of Jain monarch Amoghavarsha having 72000 ilakas. The original sutras consist of 6000 ilokas, out of which only 177 sutras had been written by Puspadanta Acarya and the remaining portion was composed by Sri Bhutabali Acarya. Thus the entire composition of Bhutabali comes to about 46000 lokas.

The other sacred work Jayadhavala is a commentary written in the 9th century A.D. by Virasen and Bhagwata Jinasen Acarya in 60000 slokas on one of the most sacred scriptures, named Kasaya Pahuda of Gunadhara Acarya. This Kasaya Pahuda consists of only hundred and eighty gathas, which also belong to the early part of the Christian era. Naturally therefore Dhavala and Jayadhavala commentaries cannot rank with Mahabandha from antiquarian standpoint.

This work deals with the Bandha category, which is one of the sevenfold Tattvas in Jainism, in the Jain Sauraseni Prakrta. The language is simple and lucid. The entire work is in prose, with the exception of about one and a half dozen verses. About three thousand slokas of the work are missing, since they have been eaten by worms and so they cannot be replaced by any amount of human effort.

Historical reference

The entire work has no historical reference; even the name of the author Ácarya Bhutabali does not appear in such a voluminous composition, probably reflecting the author's detachment for name, which according to poet Milton 'is the last infirmity of a noble mind.'

In the panegyric the name of the work appears as Mahabandha, 'which is a mine of metitorious karmas' (सत् पुण्याकर महाबन्धपुस्तक). This book has been referred to in the Dhavala and Jayadhavala on several occasions and its authorship is ascribed to Bhutabali. The prasasti of palm-leaf manuscript mentions that it was written through the munificience of Raja Santisena's pious and benevolent queen Mallikadevi for the purpose of presentation to an erudite Muniraj Maghanandi who was the disciple of Meghachandra Suri in commemoration of the successful completion of her Pancami-Vita. This throws light upon the fact that in ancient India the ladies of high families had refined taste and were attached to literature. It is through the generosity of Mallikadevi that we have at least one copy amid us written in the Kannad script. It is really a matter of profound regret that such important work has not been preserved in any other Bhandara.

The Dhavala sheds light upon the descent of this work and the historicity of Monks Bhutabali, Puspadanta and their spiritual preceptor Dharasena Acarya. He was a great soul and an enlightened scholar well-versed in some portions of the Twelve-Aigas, which had been composed by the head of Jain hierarchy, Gautama Ganadhar, who had received direct Teaching from the Omniscient Tirthankars Bhagavan Mahavira. Dharasena flourished after Lohacarya, who died 683 years after Mahavira's Nirvana i. e, in 137 A.D. What is the exact date of Dharasena is not definitely known, but it is surmised that he must have lived a couple of years after Lohacarya. It is just possible that he might have seen the demise of Lohacarya, who possessed the knowledge of entire Acharanga. It appears, therefore, that Dharasena should belong to the later half of the second century after Christ.

It transpires that Dharasena Acarya was proficient in the occult science of Ashtanga Nimitta Sastra; as also in 'Maha-Karma-Prakriti-Prabhrita. On one occasion his mind was diverted towards the sudden disappearance of canonical Teachings of Mahavira Bhagavana and this fact grieved him a great deal. He made up his mind to preserve the Teaching, which was fresh in his memory. He imparted instructions to Bhutabali and Puspadanta, who were sent to him by the religious head of the monks of the south on his requisition for sending disciples specially remarkable for their memory and retentive faculty. After the termination of studies, the disciples left the place in accordance with the wishes of their master. Puspadanta went to Vanavas Desa (modern Wandewash), composed 177 sutras and sent them to Bhutabali with his high-souled disciple Jinapalita to Dramila Desa. After going through the sutras Bhutabali could see into the mind of Puspadanta. Jinapalita communicated to him that his master was not expected to survive long, thereby suggesting to him that he should speed up the matter of compiling the teaching imparted to them by the preceptor, Dharasena Acarya.

Bhutabali devoted himself to writing with single minded devotion and was successful in completing the whole of Satkhandagama sutra. Fortunately Puspadanta was alive then, therefore he sent the entire composition to his colleague Puspadanta with the self-same saint Jinapalita. Puspadanta was extremely delighted to see his heartfelt wishes fulfilled and he performed the worship of the scripture with due eclat and grandeur accompanied by the huge assemblage of Jains on jyestha sudi 5th day.

Date of the author

The date of the author is not mentioned, but it appears that it must be assigned to the early part of the first century A.D.

The Subject matter

The subject matter of this book, as already mentioned, is Bandha, (Bondage) which forms an essential part of the doctrine of Karma. Almost all the believers in transmigration attach importance to the philosophy of Karmas. The adage, 'as you sow, so you reap,' is significant enough to show the universality and popularity of this doctrine, but the treatment of this subject is unique in Jain philosophy, in as much as it is scientific, rational and elaborate. No other system has explained this matter, as has been done by Jain thinkers and sages.

With a view to appreciate this doctrine it is necessary to comprehend the nature of the world. Our analysis brings out that there are sentient and non-sentient beings in this universe. The soul is possessed of consciousness, while other objects, devoid of this faculty, are matter, space, time, etc. The special characteristics of matter are taste, smell, touch and colour. All that is perceived by us is material. Like the soul, matter is also indestructible. They are eternal, therefore they are not created by any agency, whether super-natural or super-human. The whold panorama of nature is the outcome of the combination or the chemical action of atoms due to the property of smoothness and aridity. The variegated forms and appearances are evolved out of material atoms. But this has driven many a thinker to the conclusion that some Intelligent and Supreme Being is at the helm of affairs. He creates, destroys and recreates. The entire world dances attendance to His sweet wishes. He is Omnipotent, Omniscient and Enjoyer of transcendental bliss.

When I started editing the Satkhandagama, there were several difficulties in my way. Still, when the first volume was published in 1939 and was received with general applause, I became hopeful that, inspite of all the hindrances then existing, all the three Siddhanta works would be brought to light in due course. But I did not then expect that my hope will materialize so soon as to lead to the publication of Jayadhavala Vol. I in 1944 and of Mahabandha Vol. I in 1947, inspite of the additional difficulties in the way of such literary efforts, created by the World War. These successful efforts of the Jaina community and its scholars augur well for the future.

I had already described in my introduction to Vol. I of Satkhandagama, how copies of dhavala and Jayadhavala Siddhanta had emerged from the Moodbidri temple as early as 1915 and how the same had become available in North India during the subsequent years, But the socalled Mahadhavala Siddhanta was still confined to the private archives of the Moodbidri temple. When I examined critically the contents of these Siddhanta works in 1938-39, I was startled to find that the scanty information available about the manuscript of Mahadhavala only showed the existence of a gloss (Pamjika) on the supplementary portion (Culika) of Virasena's commentary Dhavala, and there was no trace of the Mahabandha. I, therefore, published a few articles on the subject expressing my anxiety in the matter and also urged upon the proper authorities the necessity of a thorough examation of the palm-leaf manuscript in search of Mahabadha. I am glad to say that my appeal met with a ready response. The Bhattarakaji got the palm-leaf manuscript examined by Pandit Lokanath Shastri and his colleagues, and reported to me that the gloss ended on leaf 27 and the rest of the MS did contain the Mahabandha (see my article on "Sri Mahadhavala men kya hai?" in Jaina Siddhanta Bhaskara Vol. VII, June 1940, pp. 86-98; and "Mahabandha ki khoja" in Satkhandagama Vol. III, 1941, Introdiction, pp. 6-14.)

The interest aroused by this discovery was kept up, and a transcript of the Mahabandha was completed by the end of 1942, mainly through the efforts of Pandit Sumeruchandra Diwakar, the editor of this volume, to whom my best thanks are due for the laudable task he has done in obtaining, editing and translating the text, as well as in writing the introduction which the readers would be well advised to supplement by the information presented in my introductions to the seven volumes of Satkhandagama so for published, in order to get a clear idea of the history and subject-matter of these works. The remarks of Pandit Sumerchandraji on page 30 of his introduction regarding the Panca Namokara Mantra as 'anibaddha mangala' in fivatthana appear to me to be entirely baseless as they are against the reading available in the old MSS. and the arguments set forth by Virasenacharya which I have discussed in my introduction to Vol. II, p. 33 ff. under the heading Namokara Mantra ke Adikarta, The Mahabandha, popularly known as Mahadhavala Siddhanta forms the sixth section (Khanda) of the Satkhandagama, as I had already shown in my introduction to Vol. I of that work where I had also discussed all the evidence available on the point of authorship and the age of these works. No new material has since been brought to light and therefore my views on the subject remain unaltered. Though Mahabandha is an integral part of the Satkhandagama, and is com-posed by the same author Bhutabali who did not even provide it with a separate benediction (Mangala), but made it share the one given at the beginning of the fourth Khanda Vedana, yet it has come down to us in a separate manuscript for two reasons. Firstly, the composition is much larger in volume than even all the first five sections put together; and secondly, it contains no commentary by Virasena, the author of Dhavala, who thought it unnecessary to comment upon a work which was so exhaustively self-sufficient. The subject-matter of the work is of a highly technical nature which could be interesting only to those adepts in Jaina philosophy who desire to probe the minutest details of the Karma Siddhanta.

As the General Editor of the Series, I take this opportunity to congratulate and offer my best thanks to Mr. Shantiprasad Jain for establishing the Bharatiya Jnanapitha at Banares and starting this series of publications in memory of his mother Moortidevi, with the noble object of making known to the world the hidden treasures of ancient Indian culture. I hope and trust that with the keen interest of Mrs, Shantiprasad, Shrimati Rama Rani, the President of the Managing Committee, and the industry, zeal and enthusiasm of Nyayacharya Pandit Mahendrakumar Shastri, the acting Director of the institution, the work started would continue to advance steadily towards the goal. I appeal to all scholors to cooperate with the institution in achieving its laudable object.

**Contents and Sample Pages**