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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF JAINISM
Karnataka. It appears that Samantabhadra was an itinerant sādhu and was universally respected for his vast learning and mesmeric personality.
Regarding the date of Samantabhadra, it is at least certain that he flourished before Pujyapāda. Formerly scholars like Vidyabhusan or Winternitz were not aware of the evidence supplied by the Darśanasāra (AD 933) on Pūjyapāda's date and their chronology was therefore based on surmise. Now, happily we know the approximate date for Pujyapada who emphatically mentions Samahtabhadra in his Jainendra.38 The traditional Digambara chronology places him two generations before Devanandi Pūjyapāda," and therefore we will be justified in placing Samantabhadra in the last quarter of the fourth century AD."
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Among the works of Samantabhadra, the most important and significant is the Āptamīmāṁsā," which as we have already said, is also known as the Devāgama. This poem has 114 verses, each of which has a beauty in its own right. The work is replete with discussions on logical principles besides a review of the contemporary schools of philosophy, including the Advaitavāda. As noted by Vidyabhusan,12 it has been cited by the Hindu philosopher Vācaspati Miśra in explaining Sankara's criticism of the Syādvāda. The earliest commentator of this great philosophical poem of Samantabhadra was Akalanka (eighth century), followed by Vidyananda and others. Several commentaries on this work also exist in Kannaḍa, Tamil, and other Indian languages,43 which show that it was looked upon as one of the most precious poems on philosophy by the later Jaina thinkers. The second work of Samantabhadra is Yuktyanuśāsana,11 a poem of 64 verses which has a Sanskrit commentary by Vidyananda. It appears from the commentary15 that the work was composed after the Aptamimāṁsā. Like that poem, it too is full of useful discussions. The Svayambhustotra16 is a poem of 143 verses and contains ślokas in praise of various Tīrthamkaras. The highest number of verses (20) are reserved for Arhanatha and the second highest (10) for Neminatha. Mahāvīra has 8 and the others 5 each. The only commentary on it is by Prabhācandra. The fourth work of Samantabhadra is Jinastutisataka17 which has 116 verses and has a commentary by Narasimha Bhatta. It is a truly theistic poem and therefore very appealing. Nothing is known regarding the date of the commentator.
The Ratnakaraṇḍakaśrāvakācāra,48 which is also known as the Upasakādhyayana, as the name indicates, is a manual of morals for
