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SUSHIL JAIN: ON JAINA POLITY AND SOMADEVA'S NITIVAKYAMRITAM
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That Somadeva "was a great dialectician, a poet of considerable merit, and a master of Jaina theory and tradition" has been noted by several authors. 39
It is difficult to determine if Somadeva had any real or single patron or benefactor since Nitivākyamrtam is not dedicated to any ruler of patron 40 "His minute description of court-life depicted in the Yaśastilaka is certainly not that of a petty chief like Vagarāja but of a powerful monarch like Krsna III". 41
Yasastilakais a campū mahā-kävya in eight parts (a mention has already been made to the latter parts of the books, viz. chapters 6-8, which are also referred to as Upāsakādhyayana^2). The earlier sections of the book deal with the life, times and adventures of a prince named Yasodhara; hence this portion of the text is also known as "Yasodharamaharajacaritra".
We learn from the book "that it was composed when Kęshnadeva (Krsna III the Rastrakuta monarch) was ruling after having vanquished the Pandya, Cola and Ceram (Cera) kings (E.I., IV, pts VI-VII. p. 281). This is corroborated by that ruler's own inscriptions, issued on the 9th March, 959, from his Melapati camp, a few weeks prior to the composition of the Yaśastilaka, which was composed at Gangadhara, the metropolis of a chieftain Vagaraja, the eldest son of a Calukyan feudatory, Arikeśarin, of Krsna III". 43
Most scholars agree that the now "famous book on political science”.Nitivakyāmộtam, was completed around A.D. 959-966, several years before Yasastilaka, which is dated about 992 A.D.
Whether "the book was written to advise princes, specially
39. Saletore, op.cit., p. 1369. 40. ibid. 41. Saletore, AIPTI. p. 337. While making a selection from Jaina literature,
in his section on Jain Philosophy and Political Thought'. Professor Basham has included extracts from Somadeva's Nitivākyāmstam (SIT,
1958, pp. 88-90). 42. The first sūtra has been variously transcribed as : atha dharmartha
phalaya rājyah namah (now, to the State, the source of dharma and artha, Salutation! (cited by Saletore, 1963, p. 337). Gupta (1987). however, transcribes it as follows : dharmartha-kāma-mokşa-svarüpsarva-puruşārtha-phalamind-rajayam (This righteous policy brings forth the fruits of all efforts of human existence-fulfilment of worldly needs
and desires and attainment to salvation) 43. Saletore, op.cit.
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