Aptamimansa Critique of an Authority Bhasya

Author(s): Samantbhadracharya, Akalankadev, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: Jagruti Dilip Sheth Dr

Page 34

INTRODUCTION
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Samantabhadra We know almost nothing about Ac. Samantabhadra's life. "Many legends attach to his life but little can be said of it with certainty. He would seem to have been a native of the Tamil land and to have belonged to a ksatriya family."131 Prof. H. L. Jaina and Prof. M. A. Dhaky32 assign him to circa A. D. 550. His authorship of Aptamimāṁsā, Svayambhūstotra and Yuktyanusāsana is beyond any doubt. They belong to the literary form called stotra (devotional poem). But they are philosophical in substance. Vidyānanda has written commentaries on Yuktyanusāsana and Aptamīmāṁsā.
Akalanka Akalarka3 was the father of Jaina logic. He created Jaina doctrine of pramāṇas and certainly spent the best part of his labour working around this problem. He was well conversant with the contemporary systems of Indian philosophy and so was in a position to evaluate them, particularly from the standpoint of Anekāntavāda.
As is the case with other outstanding figures, the brilliant personality of Akalanka too is surrounded by legends. But it is almost certain that he flourished between 720 A. D. and 780 A. D.; that he belonged to Mānyakheța; that he was a son of Purusottama, a minister of Subhatunga cf Mänyakheta; that he stayed in the Buddhist Matha to study Buddhist philosophy and that he had debates with a Buddhist teacher at the court of king Himasītala of Kalinga.
Akalanka composed several works on logic - Laghiyastraya34 (composed of Pramāna-nayapraveśa and Pravacanapraveśa), Nyāyaviniscaya35 Pramāṇasangraha and Siddhivinisacaya.36 These are his original works. On all these he himself wrote short commentaries. 31. Jaina Yoga, R. Williams, Pub. Motilal Banarsidass, Dehli, 1983, p. 19 32. 'Svāmī Samantabhadra-no Samaya' (Gujarati paper), Nirgrantha, Vol. 3, Ahmedabad,
1998 33. For details of Akalanka's life, date and works one may refer to Dr. M. K. Jaina's
introduction to Siddhiviniscaya, published by Bharatiya Jñānapitha, Kāsi. 34. Ac. Prabhacandra (late tenth century A. D.) has written an extensive and critical
commentary on Laghiyastraya, called Nyāyakumudacandra. It is edited by M. K. Jain and published by Manik Chandra Dig. Jain Granthamala, Bombay. Vadirajasori (late tenth century A.D.) has written an elaborate and illuminating commentary (vivarana) on Nyāyaviniscaya. It is edited by M. K. Jain and published
by Bhāratiya Jñanapītha, Kasi. 36. Anantavirya (ninth century A. D.) commented upon Siddhiviniscaya. His
commentary also is very elaborate and intensely logical. It is published with the original Siddhiviniscaya. See fn. 33.
35.