[Buddha-l] NYTimes.com: Let Us Pray for Wealth

[Dan Lusthaus]

Joy,

 > >Paul Dundas thinks [Kundakunda ] may have lived in the 8th c, but he's
uncertain.
>
> I hope he is. What is his main argument?

Since Kundakunda is considered one of the eary Digambaras, the earlier one
can push his dates, the older the Digambaras as a whole can claim to be. If
there is an inscription that can clearly be dated and that mentions his
name, then (with some adjustments of math) we would be in the ballpark.

The traditional dating has been, as you've said, around the second-third
cent. or so. Dundas doesn't give any detailed arguments, but defers the
argument to a work I don't have. Here is some of what he says:

The Jains. London, NY: Routledge, 2nd edition, 2002.

"Nothing is known of Kundakunda's life. Although scholarship has
conventionally located him in the second or third century CE, hagiographical
accounts do not appear until the tenth century, a fact which has prompted a
recent radical reassessment of his dating which would locate him after 750
CE. [an endnote reference is here, which I'll get to in a moment] ...
Tradition regards Kundakunda as being the founder of the Muula Sa'ngha, the
main Digambara ascetic lineage..."
(p.107)

The endnote reads:

"Dhaky (1991). This proposed redating would entail Kundakunda being located
close to early Advaita Vedanta which his teachings resemble in certain
respects. See below."

Dhaky (1991) is:

Dhaky, M.A. (1991) "The Date of Kundakundaacaarya." in Dhaky and Jain:
187-206.


Dhaky and Jain is:

Dhaky, M.A. and Jain, S. (eds.) (1991) _Aspects of Jainology Vol. III. Pt.
Dalsukhbhai Malvania Felicitation Volume I_, Varanasi.

I don't have that work. And don't know how Dhaky's redating has fared since
then, aside from noting that in the Dundas' revised 2nd ed. of _The Jains_
in 2002, he obviously did not revise his estimate of Kundakunda's date. That
he himself must have found something persuasive in Dhaky is indicated by his
index. For names of figures he includes, in parentheses, dates. For
Kundakunda the date is "(8th c.?)".

Dan