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102 / The Rästraküțas and Jainism
flung net of the great author. It can be regarded as a unique work in Sanskrit literature'.. [Krishnamoorthy, in - The Rastrakutas of Malkhed, (ed). Gopal. B. R. : 1994 : 395].
4.9.3.1. The last chapters, six to eight, of Yaśastilaka are known as Upasakādhyana, 'readings for lay men', i.e., an authentic text for the lay votaries of Diagambara tradition, enjoying the status of an independent text. While denouncing the delusion pertaining gods, Sõmadēvasūri criticizes the alleged divinity of the popular gods. He shuns superstitious practices such as making food offerings to the manes, worshipping trees, touching the tail of a cow with the belief that such acts avert disasters. He adverts to the different methods of uttering the Jaina formula, including the popular one, consisting of 35 letters.
4.9.3.2. Niti-Vākyāmsta, nectar of political sayings, exhaustive treatise of polity in 32 chapters in sūtras, easily stands on par with Artha śāstra of Kautilya (Cāņkya/ Vişnugupta?). Yaśastilaka can be considered as the coup demaitre, master stroke, and Nitivākyāmộta can be regarded as coup d'etat, political stroke of poet Somadēvasūri. Incidentally, it may be mentioned here that S. R. Goyal has argued that Artha-śāstra is a work of a Jaina monk. Sõmadēva's cognition on Indian niti, polity, or rājadharma, statecraft, is amazing. His wealth of material has made the work a notable contribution to the theory and science of politics, and the political significance of the work needs no exaggeration. This political treatise deals with neither on Jaina ethics nor on syādvāda philosophy, the doctrine of qualified assertion, though authored by a Jaina litterateur. Critics have voted Nīti-Vākyāmộta as the chef d'oeuvre, masterpiece of Somadēva.
4.9.4. Sõmadēvasūri authored the famous Nitivākyāmsta, avowedly nonsectarian work, to advice princes like Krsna, Baddega-II Arikesari-III (966-75), and
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