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INTRODUCTION
No absolutely reliable information about the life and work of Mahopadhyaya Yashovijayji, the author is available. However, I have utilized the whole material published so far, in preparing this outline and that material has now been accepted as truely and as almost final.
Our author was born in the village, Kanoda, also referred to as Kanhoda which lay between Kalol and Patan in the then Baroda District.
He was the eldest son of Narayanadas by Saubhagyadevi, his younger brother being Padmasinha, His own name was Jasvant. His mother, who was a devoted lady, used to go to Shri Nayavija ya ji to pay respect to him and to hear his religious sermons, taking her two sons with her. When Nayavijayji once happened to come to Kanoda in V. S. 1688, after the completion of his monsoon stay in Kunaghar near Patan in V. S. 1687. In Kanoda itself both brothers were consecrated into the Monk's order in the same year and were named as Yashovijayji and Padmavijayji respectively.
Finding Yashovijayji extremely intelligent and enthusiastic in learning. Nayavijayji, at the request and insistence of Shri Dhanaji Sheth of Ahmedabad, took him to Banaras, the best place where ample facility and convenience for the deep and compa rative study of the six non-jain Philosophical systems existed Guru took this step in order to enable Yashovijayji to evaluate Jain philosophy so far as its essence and place of importance are concerned in the context of other philosopbical systems.
Ag hinted before, Yashovijayji, who was of keen intellect, took no time in mastering the philosophical systems which are broadly divided into two categories, Prachin and Navya. At Banaras, Yashovijayji attended seminars in which many bearned Pandits drawn from all over the country took part for discussions. This gave him an opportunity to train himself in how best to make practical use of the vast knowledge that he had gained. Once, he defeated all the participating Pandits in one of such assemblies and to their chagrin established himself as the supreme debater of proven skill and ability. As a mark of appreciation, he was awarded here the designation of Nyayavisharad.
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