Ten in One: The Case of Stanza 13 in Samantabhadra’s Sixth Century Āptamīmāṃsā

Abstract

AbstractThe title refers to an unusual instance of ten occurrences of one stanza in a single philosophical work. The stanza in question highlighted here is the outcome of a previous study on the faults (doṣas) levelled against the non-one-sided position of the Jainas, the theory of manifoldness that aims at avoiding any absolutistic standpoint or perspective concerning an object of investigation (anekāntavāda). This article draws on a study published in 2007 on doṣas or faults levelled against the Jainas. One aspect of the debate on it is dealt with here in a bit more detail: the ten occurrences of the identical stanza in Samantabhadra’s 6th century Āptamīmāṃsā (ĀM). Vidyānandin’s tenth century Aṣṭasahasrī-commentary to Āptamīmāṃsā 71 and 72 mentions a list of seven faults (doṣas) which, he says, do not apply to the Jaina anekāntavāda, with ĀM 70 thematically belonging to these two stanzas.The unique feature of ĀM 70 (which thematically belongs to ĀM 71 and 72 dealt with in the 2007 paper) in the context of Vidyānandin’s commentary is specifically dealt with here, because ĀM 70 is identical with ĀM 13, which is repeated ten times in all in Samantabhadra’s seminal work divided into ten chapters or sections (paricchedas) in the form now published. The paper will deal with some aspects of the repetitions of ĀM 70, the first occurrence being ĀM 13.