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CCXLVIII
Kavyanusasana
he became famous as a great debater who silenced several dialecticians especially the great Digambara dialectician Kumudachandra. This defeat of Kumudachandra was a sort of land - mark in the history of Svetāmbara Jainas. As a verse attributed to Hemachandra says there would have been no Svetāmbaras in Gujarat if Devasūri had not defeated Kumudachandra who had, according to the conditions of the debate, to leave this province. This incident, as we saw, forms the subjectmatter of the play of Yasaschandra known as the " Mudritakumudachandra or Kumudachandra Silenced”.
This play is a sort of contemporary account which gives many interesting details about the intellectual life in the reign of Siddharāja Jayasimha. The Pra. Cha. in its chapter on Vádi Devasūri mainly draws upon this work and supplements its information from other sources. From these two works, we get accurate infcrmation about the main events of Devasūri's life. : From the Pra. Cha. we learn that Devasūri was born in the year V. S. 1143 A. D. 1087 (p. 295. v. 286), that his father's name was Vīranāga who belonged to the Prāgvāta family, that his mother's name was Jinadevī, that originally they were of Maddāhịta in the district of Ashtādasasati (modern Madhar in Palanpur State) and that the wordly name of Devasūri was Pūrņachandra. The family preceptor was the famous Muni Chandrasūri. On account of an epidemic, Vīrangāga had to leave his native place and migrate to Bhrgukachha in Lăța, where it appears he had to live in poor circumstances. In his ninth year (V. S. 1152-A. D. 1096) Purņachandra was ordained monk by Muni Chandra
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