Nav Smarana

Author(s): Vinod Kapashi
Publisher: Vinod Kapashi

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The poet's life history is quite sketchy and we can only go by what the Shvetämbara Pattävali tells us.
There was a monk called Skandil-Soori who lived during the first century BCE. He had a disciple by the name of Vridhavädi-Soori. Vridhhavadi possessed an extraordinary memory and was very brilliant., this is perhaps the reason that he was called Vridhavädi (elder and respected scholar).
Vridhhavädi once came to the town of Ujjaini (now in the state of Madhya Pradesh), which was ruled by king Vikram. There once he met a Brähmin scholar and his son for religious discussions and the interpretation of various aspects. The Brähmin Pandit and his son were very much impressed by Vridhavadi Soori. Not only that, the son whose name was Siddhasena became a disciple of Vridhhavadi Soori. He was given a name Kumudchandra. This Siddhasena alias Kumudchandra is the author of the Kalyan Mandir Stotra.
Siddhasena once went to the town of Chitor in the state of Rajasthän where, according the legend', he saw a huge pillar that looked slightly weak at one particular place. Siddhasena asked his men to drill where the weak point was and there he found some books hidden inside the pillar. Siddhasena got one book out and started reading one page at random. But by some miraculous happening, a certain god appeared in front of him. The god took the book away from Siddhasena and put it back into the pillar and the hole was miraculously plugged within a few seconds.
Siddhasena, however, remembered some of the paragraphs he had read from the book. What he had read and remembered were two important vidyäs or (science of creating miracles). The first vidyä taught him how to materialise gold from nothing and the second vidyä taught him how to create an army of warriors out of grains of mustard seeds.
It is said that Siddhasena used these vidyas for the benefit of a certain king Devapäla. Devapäla was so happy with the result that he said that Ächärya Siddhasena's glory shines like that of the brightness of the sun. Therefore from that day on Siddhasena was named Siddhasena Diwäkar (Diwäkar meaning sun).
The legend goes on to narrate one more example. Ächärya Siddhasena Diwäkar went to Ujjaini and there he had visited a Hindu temple of Lord Shiva. The Achärya started composing the Kalyan Mandir Stotra in praise of Pärshvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankara of the Jains. When the Achärya composed verse No 13, the idol of Lord Shiva broke open and the image of Pärshvanatha appeared from the top of the linga/idol. The Achärya went on composing more verses and the result is this beautiful smarana containing forty-four verses.
According to the Jain Sähityano Sankshipta Itihäsa'', Siddhasena Diwäkar was perhaps, one of the nine prominent personalities at the court of King Vikram (King Vikram had nine-jewels meaning nine great men who were masters in their fields). Whatever the case, Siddhasena Diwäkar is famous for his books on logic. His works
Shvetambara Pattavali Page 59 2 Para 153, author MD Desai, 1933
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