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mentioned previously. disciple of Virasēna. Ajitasāna.
JATI I BUTT MDIA It is however likely that Aryasõna was a direct Aryasõna was suoceeded by his eminent disciple
Ajitasëna was the most renowned teacher of the lineage. He was the preceptor of the Western Ganga princes, Mārasimha and Răchamalla and of the reputed general Chāvuņdarāya. Nēmichandra Siddhāntachakravarti, another great teacher of the age, who was also a preceptor of Chāvandariya, pays glowing tribute to Ajitasõna in bis Gommațasāra as the one 'who had attained perfection and was universally respected (bhuvana-guru)'. This Ajitasõna lived approximately in the latter half of the 10th century a. D. Now, if we calculate the age of Ajitasēna from the generations mentioned in the Mulgund inscription of Sõmēśvara I, it approaches approximately the same period. So, not merely on account of this contemporaneity, but on the solid ground of the fact that both, Ajitasõna of the Chāvundarāyapurāna and his namesake of the Mulgund epigraph, were constituents of the Sēna anvaya of Chandrikāvāta, as seen previously, we are eminently justified in assuming their identity. Ajitasõna appears to have primarily held the pontifical throne at Mulgund, though he might have been brought into contact with other places by his spiritual activities.'
Mallishēņa Sûri was a reputed scholar and author of the Mahāpurāna, Nágakumāra Kávya and other works on Tantric lore in Sanskrit. He lived by the middle of the 11th century A. D. and belonged to the monastic lineage of Ajitasõna. From the colophons of these works a few more details are known regarding these preceptors of the Mulgund monastery. In his biographical account in the Mabāpurāņa, Mallishēņa Sūri refers to Mulgund as a Tirtha or sacred resort and records the completion of the work in this town in Saka 969 or a, D. 1047. The pedigree of Mallishēņa as known from his other works is as follows: Ajitasēna, then his pupil Kanakasēna. The latter had two disciples Jinasēna and Narēndrasēna, and Mallishēna was the pupil of the former. We may here note the identity of this Narēndrasēna with Narandrasēna I of the Mulgund inscription. We may also incidentally observe that Mallishēņa Sūri was well-versed in logic, grammar and poetics, besides other sciences and lores. Postulating a period of 80 years per generation the pedigree of these teachers with their approximate dates may be shown as follows:
1 Compare, Exp. Ind. Val XVI, p. 68. 2 Jaina Literature and History, pp. 413419.
