Homage to Sarasvatī

1. In the year 1697 of the Vikrama era, in the running year 1563 of the Śāka era,
2. in the month of Caitra which offers many good things, in the fortnight, on the auspicious eighth day [of the fortnight],
3. a Wednesday, in the evening, when in the Vipakṣa-gaccha the head pontiff was the venerable leader Kalyāṇa-sāgara,
4. in the town of Gajanagara, [this manuscript] was copied by the learned monk Bhāvaśekharagaṇi, a disciple of the teacher Vivekaśekhara – Glory! –
5. for his disciple the monk Bhuvanaśekhara to read. Thanks to the favour of [the eighth Jina] Candraprabhu. Long [may it last]!

This is the traditional and complete way of giving the date, both in the Vikrama and in the Śāka eras. It is equivalent to 1640 CE. The month of Caitra is said to ‘offer many good things’. This is a conventional description of a month that corresponds to spring. As elsewhere, this season of blossoming announces joy and pleasure.

Vidhipakṣa is another name of the Śvetāmbara monastic order known as Añcala-gaccha, closely associated with the region of Kutch in Gujarat. This is a monastic order with a central organisation headed by a pontiff with the title of sūri or bhaṭṭāraka. Kalyāṇa-sāgara, named here, was born in 1576 CE (1633 VS) and died in 1661 (1718 VS). He became the head of the order in 1613 CE (1670 VS).

Gajanagara, the place name, cannot be identified clearly. The concluding remark ‘thanks to the favour of Candraprabha‘ is a standard way to say that the monk copied the manuscript in a local temple dedicated to the eighth Jina.

This colophon is an interesting instance of a monastic lineage represented at three levels:

• Vivekaśekhara has the title of vācānācārya – a rather high position in the monastic hierarchy, which means a monk who is well versed in texts and in preaching
• his pupil is Bhāvaśekhara, who holds the title gaṇi, which means that he leads a group of monks
• Bhāvaśekhara copied the present manuscript for one of the group, Bhuvanaśekhara, who has the simple title mu°, which is short for muni or ‘monk’.

Jain monks have their official titles added to their names. These titles are also accompanied by terms of respect, such as ‘venerable’ – pūjya – or the respectful prefix śrī. These respectful terms are sometimes written more than once or are implied as being repeated. The term śrī5 found twice in this colophon should be understood as adding the prefix śrī five times to the name, which denotes a very high level of honour.

The activity of Bhāvaśekhara, who copied this manuscript, is known from other sources too. As well as authoring a narrative composition in Gujarati called Rūpasena-ṛṣi-rāsa in 1626 (1683 VS), he copied at least another manuscript for the same disciple. Bhāvaśekhara gives his spiritual genealogy at the end of his composition, confirming what we read here. Thus this is a good instance of how a colophon offers a glimpse of the monastic Jain community at a micro-level.

Jain ascetics were instructed in religious scriptures, but also widely read in subjects such as mathematics, medicine and grammar. So it is not surprising to see that they could be involved in copying and reading a manuscript of a famous mathematical treatise such as this one.