Kevalaodhi Buddhist And Jaina History Of Deccan Vol 2

Author(s): Aloka Parasher Sen, B Subrahmanyam, E Siva Nagi Reddy
Publisher: Bharatiya Kala Prakashan

Page 128

Kevala-Bodhi-Buddhist and Jaina History of the Deccan
Samantabhadra, though believed to have belonged to the Tamil country, was an itinerant monk and seems to have spent much time in the Andhra region, where the Mula Samgha was established by Kundakuṇḍācārya (50 BC-AD 50), the resident of Konakondla, in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. Acarya Nagarjuna, a contemporary of the Satavahana king, the propounder of the Sanyavāda philosophy seems to have been a senior contemporary of Samantabhadra, as his influerfce can be seen in the latter's Yuktyȧnuśāsana and "Samantabhadra's criticism of Nagarjuna's views is like that of a contemporary"." B. A. Saletore also convincingly argues that he lived in the first quarter of the second century AD. Taking into account all the Jaina and non-Jaina sources, J.P. Jain has fixed the date of Samantabhadra at about A.D. 120-185.
330
The famous Jaina medical scholar Pujyapada who lived at Srisailam in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh was a well-known philosopher, poet and grammarian of ancient India. After Samantabhadra, he was the greatest of the early Jaina medical scholars. The catalogues of various manuscript libraries inform us that he composed many medical works and is said to have written the following medical works:
Nidanaratnávali
• Vaidyakagrantha
●Madanakāmaraina'
• Ratnakaradyuaṣṭadha Yogagrantha
On the basis of the medical work of Ugraditya, we come to know that Pujyapada composed a medical work known as Kalyāṇakāraka. Gōmajadēva, another Jaina medical scholar, pays his obeisance to Pujyapadamuni in his work thus: "I offer obeisance to the feet of the Great Jaina grammarian, philosopher and the author of the book Vaidyamṛta, the Great sage Pujyapada". But since no manuscript copies on these titles are available, it can be surmised that a major or extensive work dealing with all the branches of medical science must have been written by Pujyapāda. The different fragmentary works available in manuscript libraries on his name must be parts of the same work. The author of the Rasaratnasamucchaya and other medical scholars Camundaraya, Subhacandra and Parsvapandita paid their regards to the learning and saintliness of Pujyapada, who is said to have driven away ill health by his teachings, actions and by the composition of the medical treatise..
8
Pujyapada was a reputed scholar, an eminent author and a master of several branches of learning. He wrote his works in Sanskrit both in prose and verse forms. According to the scholars in Jaina literature, his original name was Devanandi and was popularly known by his title Pujyapada. He might have acquired that title due to his spiritual as well as medical services, which endowed great mental and physical solace to the destitute.
Pujyapada was also an itinerant monk as Samantabhadra, but lived most of his life in Andhradeśa. He belonged to Dēsi, (nandi) gaṇa, a branch of the Mula Samgha of Kundakuṇḍācārya's line. According to the pattavalis of the Samgha, he was the 10th guru. His predecessor was Yasonandi, and successor was Jayanandi Acarya. According to the writings of 19th century such as Rajāvalikatha (1834) and Pujyapada Carite (AD1800), he was a Kannadiga born in a Brahmin family, whose parents were Madhavabhatta and Śrīdēvi. C. K. Srikantha Murthy also opines that this great philosopher and physician belonged to 600 AD and was a great physician of Karnataka. But the sources of Andhra history inform us that he lived at Srisailam and belonged to Desiyagana of the Müla Samgha of Kundācārya. Anyway, Andhra and Karnataka regions were considered as one country (rajya) having many common customs and cultural traditions.