Acharya Mahaprajna
The Ācārāṅga occupies first place in Dvādasāṅga. [1] There are two opinions - According to one school, it is the first from the point of view of the order of the theme, but considering its period of compilation, it is the twelfth. The other school of thought considers it at first place on both the counts Acharya Malayagiri [2] and Abhayadeva Suri [3] have referred to the contention of both the schools. These views were prevalent in their times. Aṅgas were extracted from Pūrvas and as such the view of the former school appears to be justified.
According to the Niryuktikāra, the 'Ācārāṅga' enjoys the first place because the Tῑrthaṅkara first propounded the guidelines for Ācārāṅga and then dealt with other Āgamas.[4] The Gaṇadhara also treated them in the same order.[5] The Niryuktikāra has said, 'the 'Ācārāṅga' deals with the pursuit of Mokṣa which is the essence of all and that is why the Ācārāṅga is to be regarded as first and foremost among Aṅgas.[6]
This argument has some limitation. But if we see the point made by the Niryuktikāra i.e. first of all the Ācārāṅga was extracted and compiled out of the Pūrvas and then the other Aṅgas like 'Sūtrakṛtāṅga', we overcome the limitation at least in intrinsic sense.
(a) Nandῑ. Malayagiri Vṛtti, patra 211: sthāpanāmadhikṛtya prathamamaṅgam.
(b) Ibid, Malayagiri Vṛtti, patra 240: gaṇadharā ḥ punaḥ sūtraracanāṃ vidadhataḥ ācāradikrameṇa vidadhati sthāpayanti vā.
(a) Samavāyāṃga Vṛtti, patra 101: prathamamaṃṅga sthāpanāmadhikṛtya, racanāpekṣayā tu dvādaśamaṅgam.
(b) Ibid, patra 121: gaṇadharāḥ punaḥ śrutaracanāṃ vidadhānā ācārādikrameṇa racayanti sthāpayanti ca.
savcssiṃ āyāro, titthassa pavattaṇe paḍhamayāe.
sesāiṃ aṃgaiṃ, ekkārasa āṇupuvvῑe.
