Dravyasamgraha


is a 10th-century Jain text in Jain Sauraseni Prakrit by Acharya Nemicandra belonging to the Digambara Jain tradition. It is a composition of 58 gathas giving an exposition of the six dravyas that characterize the Jain view of the world: sentient ', non-sentient ', principle of motion ', principle of rest ', space ' and time '. It is one of the most important Jain works and has gained widespread popularity. has played an important role in Jain education and is often memorized because of its comprehensiveness as well as brevity.

Author

10th century Jain Acarya, Nemicandra Siddhānta Cakravartin is regarded as the author of '. He was the teacher of Camundaraya—the general of the Western Ganga Dynasty of Karnataka. Nemicandra was a prolific author and a specialist in summarizing and giving lucidly the essence of teachings in various fields; ' and sāras were his specialty. He also wrote Trilokasāra, Labdhisāra, ', and '. Although not much is known about him from his own works, at the end of the Trilokasāra and of the , he introduces himself as a pupil of Abhayanandi, Vīranandi, Indranandi and Kanakanandi. He is said to have inspired Camundaraya to build the famous Bāhubali statue at Shravanabelagola. Vahuvali Charitra notes that Nemicandra belonged to the monastic order of Desiya gana. After establishing the statue of Bāhubali, Camundaraya offered villages yielding a revenue of 96,000 gold coins to Nemicandra for daily worship of and festivals for Gommatesvara.

Influence

' has played an important role in Jain education and is often memorized because of its comprehensiveness and brevity. The composition of ' is influenced from the earlier Jain works such as Umāsvāti's Tattvārthasūtra and Kundakunda's Pañcāstikāyasara because these works are based on the same topics as the .

Contents and overview

According to Nalini Balbir, the ' is largely a work of definitions of concepts with mnemonic perspective. In its 58 verses, the author makes skillful use of āryā metre. Nemicandra's presentation is often articulated around the opposition between the conventional and the absolute points of view, or around the contrast between the material and the spiritual angles. Sarat Chandra Ghoshal, the translator of ', divides the entire text in three convenient parts—the first part deals with six dravyas, the second with seven tattvas and the third part describes the way to attain liberation.

The six dravyas

In tine opening verse, along with the usual mangalacharana, it is mentioned that dravya consists of jiva and ajiva. In the second verse Jiva is defined:
The various characteristics of Jiva mentioned in the definition are taken up one by one in verses 3–14. classifies the embodied souls on the basis of the number of senses possessed by it: from one to five senses. After this detailed description of Jivas the author proceeds to describe Ajivas—Pudgala, Dharma, adharma, Akasa and Kala, each of which is defined in verses 16–22.
Among these, as per verse 23, the Jiva, pudgala, dharma, adharma, and akasa are called astikayas, the extensibles or conglomerates.

Tattvas

The second part deals with the seven tattvas : jīva, ajīva, āsrava, bandha, saṃvara, nirjarā and mokṣa . Together with puṇya and pāpa they form nine padārtha. Some call all nine as navatattava or nine tattvas.

Moksa

The third part of begins with verse 39 describing the means to attain liberation from conventional and real point of views. The three jewels of Jainism also known as Ratnatraya—Samyak darśana, samyak jñāna and samyak cāritra —which are essential in achieving liberation—are defined and the importance of dhyāna is emphasized. On meditation, Nemicandra says:

Pañca-Parameṣṭhi

Verses 49 to 54 of the Dravyasaṃgraha, succinctly characterizes the five Supreme Beings and their characteristics.

Commentaries

One of the most popular commentaries of is that by Brahmadeva from around the 14th century. Other commentaries on the work include: