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CCL
Kavyanusasana
with Kumudachandra and probably was responsible for Kumudachandra's challenge to Devasūri for a dialectical duel, though we have no definite information on the point.
The Pra. Cha. mentions six learned friends of Devasūri viz:- Vimalachandra, Harichandra, Somachandra, Pārṣvachandra, Şanti and Aṣokachandra (p. 280). There is corrobarative evidence to prove the historicity of these persons in several Jain works of Gujarat. The M. K. C. mentions one Aşoka as a follower of Devasuri (p. 13). May not Somachandra be our Hemachandra who bore that name before he became an Āchārya ?
After Ramachandra was thus qualified, he was made a Sūri or Acharya.* This ceremony took place in the year V. S. 1174-A. D. 1118 that is when he was in his thirtyfirst year (p. 295). He was thenceforth called Devasūri.
Devasuri was first introduced to Jayasimha through the minister Ambāprasāda who appears to be himself a philosopher as he is referred to by Devasūri in his logical treatise. The occasion was, as usual, dialectical. One Devabodha of Srī Bhāgavatadarṣana' visited Srimat Pattana' and challenged the learned men of the city to explain a verse which he wrote down on a leaf and hung it at the royal gate. For six months it remained unexplained; then Ambāprasāda introduced Devasuri to the king. Devasuri explained the verse in the presence of the king, who, from that day, became his friend (p. 281 P. C. ). Devabodha
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We cannot definitely say whether all these dialectical conquests of Devasūri were acheived before he became Acharya.
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