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Jainism In Jayantabhatta's Agamadambara
ANANTALAL THAKUR
THE Āgamaļambara is a four-act play written in Sanskrit and Prākrit
in a number of dialects. Its author is the famous Nyāya thinker Jayantabhatta who flourished in the ninth century A.D. and composed his magnum opus, the Nyāyamañjari, residing in a prison cell as he himself states in the following verse :
राज्ञा तु गहरेऽस्मिन्नशब्दके बन्धने विनिहितोऽहम् ।
ग्रन्थरचनाकुतुकादिह हि वासरा गमिताः॥
The Nyāyamañjarī deals with different schools of philosophy, in their theoretical aspects-logical, ontological and epistemological, including also ethical. The Āgamaļambara is his next work which deals with the practical religious life of various sects in vogue during his time. King Sankaravarman (885-902 A.D.) of Kashmir was his patron. The king took cognizance of the degeneration of some of the religious sects and took steps to chastise them. Bhatta Jayanta was of much help to him in this. Sankaravarman's royal epithet as Varnāśramadharmamaryādācārya is symptomatic of the fact that he re-established the Vedic tradition after purging the unorthodox-heretical elements that corrupted the life of the people of Kashmir. It will be interesting to note that according to the wise counsel of Bhatta Jayanta the king accepted the validity of all the Agamas including those of the Jainas. The royal proclamation in the Agamadambara attests this:
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