9058009340

2 W. R. ANTARKAR

lists of Ihe Adlryas or thc heads of the three mutts mcntioncd earlicr, wiz. DvSraka, Puri and KaflcT. Out of these the firsl is found given in thcir own publication Vimarśa in Sanskrit said to have been wriltcn in about 1898

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A D. by their Adłrya, Sri Rajar3jeśvara Sańkara Svami, whilc that of the KańcI. Mutt is found given in three works viz. Punya Sloka Mańjarf, Guru Ratna Maliku and SusamS, the third being a commcnlary on the sceond. The lists of these Iwo mutts give the rcgnal period of the diffcrcnl Acaryas

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and at the same time, give some information about Sań. in parlicular. Thcy mention 509 B.C. and 477 B.C. as the years of Sań/s birlh and passing away respectively and 32 years as the tolal span of his life.

The Purl Mult list docs not give the rcgnal periods of the various Acaryas

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but with morę than 140 Adlryas, Sań. is tak en back to a pre-Christian period and is generally said to agree with 509 B.C. to 477 B.C. as that period. It may further be noted that thc same list gives 484 B.C. as the years in which Sśń. established that mutt.²*

The Jyotir Mutt is generally considcrcd to be a defunet mult bul the reccnt i.e._f the present rcigning Acarya of thc same gavc mc in 1987 A.D. a list of about 82 Acaryas of thc said mutt, wilhout their rcgnal periods and this is said generally to agree with 509 B.C. to 477 B.C. as thc period of Sań.

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The Srńg. Mutt (Tuńga) strikes a different notę. Till about 30 years ago, it held 44 B.C. to 12 B.C. to be the period of San., Vikrama Saihvat 14

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being then givcn as the ycar of Sań.*s birlh. Sufficient evidcnce has been adduccd to show that thc said mutt held this vicw at least formcrly. Shri T.S. Narayan Sastry has tried to show^J that this reekoning was according

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to thc Jain Yudhisthira Saka, which is short of the Yudhi. Saka of thc Hindus

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or thc Dharma Saka by 468 yrs. If these are added to 44 B.C., it agrees, though with a slighl diffcrcncc, with 509 B.C. as thc ycar of Siń/s birlh.

This is how thc Mutt-tradilion is said to givc almost uniformly the 6lh cent. B.C. (509 B.C. to 477 B.C.) as thc period of Sań. To this we may

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add Ihe rcferences in ihc Puranas to the Isl cent. B.C. as thc age of Sań.

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generally. Even likc the Srń. lradition abovc it can be said to approximate to the 6lh cent. B.C. theory as per the Mutt lradition.

One morę point may be noted. According to Shri KJC. Lele, the Sańkeśvara

Mutt, which is a branch of the Śrń. Mutt, refers to 2122 Yudhi. Śaka, Sarvajit

Saitwat, Mfirgaiiras Śuddha 5th, as the datę of Śań.’s birth.⁴ If this is Yudhi.

Śaka according to the Jain reekoning, we get 509 or 510 B.C. as the year

of Śań.’s birth. This, then, is a confirmalion of the period of Sań. as per

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the lists of Adlryas of the principal mutts of Sań.

Morę spedfic and detinite information about this 6th cent. B.C. theory