Jain Journal 1968 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 13

YASASTILAKA
or Yasadhara Maharaja Carita
(a religious romance composed in A.D. 959)
SOMADEVA
Somadeva was a Jaina monk and scholar who lived in the 10th century A.D. He belonged to the order of Devasangha and was the disciple of Nemideva, who in his turn was the disciple of Yasodeva. A contemporary of the Rastrakuta emperor Krisna III, Somadeva lived and wrote at Gangadhara, a small capital-city of a feudatory prince in the Rastrakuta empire. The Jaina monk never enjoyed any patronage from the political masters of his country and was able to maintain a spiritual as well as literary aloofness. Himself a political thinker, Somadeva always considered the country above its ruling monarch. Thus his Nitivāk yāmịta contains a significant remark-atha dharmärthakāmaphalāya rājyāya namah. As an author of several works, Somadeva was interested not only in philosophy and religion but also in literature and the social, political and economic life of his time. His varied interest, earned him several suffixes,-'a lion on the mountain of syädvāda', 'the lord of the logicians', 'the king of the poets', etc., etc. which are recorded in the colophon to the above-mentioned work.
Writing about Somadeva, K. K. Handiqui, the learned author of Yašastilaka and Indian Culture (1949) writes : Somadeva “is one of the most versatile talents in the history of Indian literature and his masterpiece reveals the manifold aspects of his genius. He is a master of prose and verse, a profound scholar with a well-stocked memory, an authority on Jaina dogma and a critic of contemporary philosophical
He is a close student of the art of government. He is a redactor of ancient folk-tales and religious stories, and at times shows himself an adept in dramatic dialogue. Last but not least, he is a keen observer of men and manners. The position of Somadeva is, indeed, unique in Sanskrit literature."
In the Yaudheya country, there was a magnificent city named Rajapura which was decorated with temples and lofty mansions. Here reigned Maradatta, the son of Candamahasena. Maradatta was a very