Background
The Siddhāntālāpaka – Paragraphs about the Scriptures – is a Śvetāmbara sectarian work, which chiefly discusses issues disputed by the numerous gacchas that emerged from the 12th century onwards. Their subjects are Jain ethics and principles. Quotations from the Śvetāmbara scriptures are used in support of various arguments and are explained and commented upon.
This manuscript unfolds several quotations and points of contention, in what seems to be a disconnected way. There is no colophon so a full investigation of the text is needed to work out the author’s sect. The text has two main parts:
- a set of 36 points is dealt with from the beginning up to line 14 of folio 18A. Each point is often marked off by colophons, but not always.
- then comes a kind of supplement of further quotations from various texts, discussed in turn.
The central design in the centre or at other places in some folios is noteworthy, partly because there are two designs. Either it is in the shape of a yellow diamond surrounded by red, or syllables of the text have been arranged and circled by red so as to produce lozenge shapes. Such things are not rarities, but they point to the care shown in the production of the manuscript as an artefact.
Glossary
- Source:
The British Library Board
- Shelfmark:
Or. 2137 ms. A
- Author:
unknown
- Date of creation:
16th century
- Folio number:
15 recto
- Total number of folios:
15
- Place of creation:
western India
- Language:
Sanskrit, Prākrit and Gujarati
- Medium:
paper
- Size:
26.5 x 11 cms
- Copyright:
CC0 1.0 (Creative Commons Public Domain)
- Image Copyright: