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THE AGE OF LOGIC
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hour. However, Vidyānanda was not followed – at least not in immediate future -- by authors who surpassed him in sweep or depth of insight. In the Digambara camp there now came Prabhācandra who was a diligent student of Akalanka and Vidyānanda and wrote useful commentaries, one on Akalanka another on another author. In the Svetāmbara camp there came Abhayadeva who, making ample use of the material provided by his Digambasa predecessors, wrote a commentary on Sanmati; he was followed by Vadideva who, leaning heavily on Prabhacandra and through him on Akalanka and Vidyānanda, wrote Syādvādaratnakara. All these authors we will meet in the third stage of the age of Logic and all of them are more or less significant. But none was a genius of the type of Vidyānanda. But even this third stage was to produce a great author who did in his times what Vidyānanda did in his. It was the Svetāmbara Yašovijaya, the last name in the age of Logic. The individual achievements of these four authors of the third stage of the age of Logic we propose to study next.
4. THE THIRD STAGE
(A) PRABHĀCANDRA The post-Vidyānanda phase in the history of Jaina philosophical speculation bears certaia specific marks of its own, The Digambaras were now no more in ascendency while the Svetārnbaras were now once more in ascendency. On the other hand, for Indian philosophy as a whole the era of new creative advance was now almost at an end. The reasons responsible for this complex situation remain to be investigated into, but a few things can be said even now. The gradual collapse of Hindu rule all over the country by Muslim rule was one reason why Indian philosophy as a whole entered the period of relative decline. Another reason for the same must have been the gradual disappearance from the scene of the Buddhists whose ever bolder speculations had since long been providing the Brahmin scholars of all hue with food for thought. Then the specific stimulation that now emerged within the Jaina camp has to be accounted for, Thus in this period the Digambaras who were chiefly concentrated in the southern part of the country gradually grew weaker in face of the opposition, violent and otherwise, they had to encounter from the side of their Hindu rivals. Contrariwise, the Svetambaras who were chiefly concentrated in the western part of the country somehow found the current atmosphere more congenial for advance and made signi. ficant advance. This explains why the last titan among Digambara philosophers was Vidyānanda but a fairly long stretch of time divides him from Yašo vijaya, the last titan among Svetāmbara philosophers. Again, this explains why the Digambara Prabhācandra who followed Vidyanada was a lesser author than the latter, also why Abhayadeva who was the first great Ŝvetāmbara philosopher of the period was followed by Vādideva who was a
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