Jain Journal 1968 04

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

Page 48

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J4IN JOURNAL
and was the immediate disciple of Sagaracandra His commentary was completed in AD 1160 and is considered to be one of the best commentaries written in excellent style
Another important man of the time was Bhava Brhaspati He was not a Jaina He was born in a Brahmin family at Varanası and the mission of his life was to revive Saivism of the Pasupata school For this purpose, this 'ocean of austerities', as an inscription dated 1174 describes him, left his native place and visited diverse courts for mobilising royal patronage in his mission He visited Dhara, made friends with the ruling monarch there and at last settled at Anahillapura where he was made a Mahattara and Acārya by Jayasımha and a Ganda by his successor to the throne, Kumarapala Ganda was the title of the officer-in-charge of the Somanath temple As Ganda, Bhava Brhaspati rebuilt the whole temple which was destroyed by the sack of the Muslim invaders and revived its lost glory
An illustrious name of the time was Abhayadeva Suri who was the author of Vādamahārnava which is a commentary on the Sanmatitarka of Siddhasena Divakara
In the line of Abhayadeva Suri was his disciple Santi Suri who had acquired an outstanding fame as a dialectician So goes the story that Dharma of Broach on the bank of the Narmada in Lata was renowned as a great poet His father Suradeva was a very learned man and his mother Savitri famous for her charities The family belonged to kaula sect of Saivism in his childhood, Dharma had no test for learning and so he was ordered by his father to leave his home and find some employment This he did in the course of his employment, however, he became the recipient of divine grace and his intellectual powers suddenly developed When he was about to cross the river, a poem suddenly burst out from his mouth which has been recorded in Prabhāvakacarita Finding himself a changed man he returned home but he was not well-received So in digust he left on a mission of intellectual conquest It was in the course of his wanderings that he claimed to have defeated Sambhu of Gauda, Dvija of Dhara, Visnu of Bhattiamandala and Pasupati of Kanyakubja Then he reached the learned assembly of Bhoja where he defeated scholars in tarka, lakşaña and sahitya This very much disturbed the king, since the very honour of Dhara was in mud So he sent for his friend poet Dhanapala who had left the court in disgust because of an insult inflicted on his novel Tilak amasjari The king's appeal was based on patriotism and worded in the name of Dhara Dhanapala could no longer ignore it He returned and defeated Dharma and advised the latter to visit Santi Suri