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L. Alsdorf
profit from obtaining that (part of) śrutajñana, For this reason the Pre-eminent Texts are forbidden to them."
The above passage is versified by Jinabhadra in the two stanzas Visesavasyaka bhāsya 551 f. and expatiated upon by Maladhari Hemacandra as follows:
............... Pūrvāṇy abbidhiyante. tesu ca nihśeşam api vàņmayam avatarati; átaś caturdaśa-purvatmakam dyādaśam evangam astu, kim śeşanga-viracanena angabāhya-sruta-racanena vā?ity asankyaha :
jai - vi ya Bhūyăvâe savvassa vaomayassa oyāro nijjühaņa, tahavi hu dummehe pappa itthi ya.
551 aśesa-višeșan vitasya samagra-vastu-stomasya bhūtasya, sadbhütasya, vādo, bhanaņam, yatrasau Bhūtavādah; athavā: anugara vyāvrttaprisesa-dharma-Kalapanvitānāmm sabheda-prabhedānām bhūtānām: prāņinām vädo yatrasau Bhūtāvado, Drștivadah, dirghatvam ca tākarasyarsātyāt. tatra yady api Drstiväde sarvasyapi vānmayasyavatāro 'sti, tathapi durmedhasām, tad-avadharanady-ayogyänäm mandamatinām, tathā Śravakadinām striram canugrahartham niryūhanā, viracana sesaśrutasyeti
nanu strinam Distivādah kim iti na diyate ?ity äha : tucchā gārava-bahulä сal indiyä dubbala dhije ya iya aises' ajjhayanā Bhūyāvdo ya no 'tthinam.
552 yadi hi Dristivadāḥ striyāh katham api diyeta, tada tucchadi-svabhävatayā ‘aho aham, yā Drstivadam api pathàmi!ity evam garvadhmāta-mànasasau purusaparidhava disy api pravritim vidhaya durgatim abhigachet. ato niravadhi-krpa-niraniradhibhiḥ paranugraha-pravrttair bhagvadbhis tirthakrair Utthana-Samuttha-na srutadiny atisayavanty adhyayanani Drstivadas ca strinam nanu-janatah. anugrahartham punas tàsàm 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 Drstivada 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 Drstivada" 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 Āvasyaka 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.
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