Jaina Karmaology

Author(s): N L Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

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about 720 A.D. He was locally educated in the first instance. He got associated with a Jaina saint whom he met with his parents. They asked him for a temporary 8-day oath of celibacy (which he took as a life-long one). It seems he must have been taught by this monk during his wanderings in the country. Akalanka must have realized the disappointing religious and philosophical state of the time and the antiJaina tirade must have pinched him to work for promotion and glory of the Jaina faith. In order, per chance, to fulfil this object, he did not marry reminding his father about the life-long vow of celibacy. He attended Buddhist monastery in Kanci in disguise to learn the Buddha philosophy which was prominent in refuting other philosophical systems on logical basis. His sharp intelligence made him a ferrocious debater, commentator and author. There is a story about his flight from the monastery due to a correction in a text which his teacher could not explain properly. He wandered throughout thi country after this episode and established himself in the world of philosophers.
It seems it is after these eventful Buddhist studies that he was Jinistically initiated and became the pontif of the regional group of monks of Sudhapur. During this period, he participated in many famous debates in Kanci (Tamilnadu), Kalinga (Orissa, in the court of the king Himshitala) and Andhra (in the court of the king Sahastunga) countries and defeated the Buddhists at every place and glorified the Jaina faith.
Besides debates, his memorable task has been his authentic compositions- his authorship of logical texts. He has two types of compositions- (i) original (4) and (ii) commentaries (2). There are two commentaries - one on Tattvärtha Su-tra named as Raj-Vārtika (which is the subject of this work) and the other on Āpta-mimansa (Critique of the Attained) of Samantabhadra known as Asta-Sati (Eight-Centad). He has four original treatises - (i) Nyaya Viniscaya (Ascertainment of Logic, 480 verses in 3 chapters) (ii) Siddhi-Viniscaya (Ascertainment of Validity, 12 chapters) (iii) Pramāna Sangraha (Anthology of Cognitions and (iv) Laghiyas-traya (A Short Triplet, 3 chapters, 78 verses). containing logistic treatment about organs of cognition, standpoints and positings. They have autocommentaries also, His contribution to the field of Jaina logic may be cited in terms of (1) improved and better definition of the organ of valid cognition over Umāsvāti and Siddhasena (2) strengthening the concept of two-fold knowability of objects- (a) logically-amenable and (b) logically-non-amenable postulated by earlier scholars (3) re-affirming the two-fold (sense