Authorship and authority in the sanskrit literary tradition of the swaminarayana movement: Śikṣāpatrī and Satsaṅgijīvanam

Abstract

This paper presents what the Satsaṅgijīvanam, a text by Śatānanda-Muni about the life and teachings of Sahajānanda, the founder of the Swaminarayana Movement, in two different passages reports about the authorship of the Śikṣāpatrī. It would appear that Swaminarayana (the name by which the founder came to be known) wrote the Śikṣāpatrī well before Śatānanda produced the version included in the Satsaṅgijīvanam. What the Satsaṅgijīvanam tells us about the authorship and the process of transmission of the Satsaṅgijīvanam itself complicates the evaluation of the Satsaṅgijīvanam as a historical document. Yet, the fact that the text shows that Swaminarayana may not be the author of the currently known Śikṣāpatrī invites reflection about the function of texts in the traditional selfperception and in the history of the Swaminarayana Movement.