Nyayavatara and Nayakarnika

Author(s): Siddhasena Divakar, Vinayvijay, A N Upadhye
Publisher: Jain Sahitya Vikas Mandal

Page 110

Nyāyāvatāra
*79
It may be noted here that Vikramāditya of Ujjaini has been considered by scholars to be identical with Yasodharma Deva, king of Malwa, who, according to Alberuni, defeated the Huns at Korur, in 533 A.D. The Chinese pilgrim, Hwen-tshang, who came to India in 629 A.D., says that a very powerful king (presumably Vikramāditya) reigned 60 years before his arrival there. From these it appears that Siddha Sena Divākara, who was a contemporary of Vikramāditya, must have lived at Ujjaini about 550 A.D.
Legends and historical accounts show that Siddha Sena was the well-known Kşapaņaka2 (the Jaina sage), who adorned the court of Vikramāditya and was one of the Nine Gems (nava-ratna). Varāhamihira, the famous astronomer, who was another of the Nine Gems of the court of Vikramāditya, lived between A.D. 5033 and A.D. 587. We are told that Kșapaņaka, alias Siddha Sena, was a contemporary of Varāhamihira; so he must have flourished about the middle of the 6th century.
CANDRA-PRABHA SŪRI, AUTHOR OF NYAYĀVATĀRA-VIVŘTI(?): There is an excellent commentary on the Nyāyāvatāra, called the Nyāyāvatāra-vivrti by Candra-prabha Sūri, 4 who also belonged to the Svetāmbara sect and founded the Pūrņimā Gaccha5 in Samvat
1 Beal's Buddhistic Records of the Western World, Vol. II, p. 26. 2 धन्वन्तरिः क्षपणकोऽमरसिंहशङ्कर्वेतालभट्टघटखर्परकालिदासाः। ख्यातो वराहमिहिरो नृपतेः सभायां रत्नानि वै वररुचिर्नव विक्रमस्य ।
(Jyotirvidābharaṇa). 3 Dr. THIBAUT's Introduction to Pancasiddhāntika, p. XXX. Varāhamihira chose Śaka 427 or A.D. 505 as the abdapiņda of his astronomical calculation, showing thereby that he lived about that time. So
सप्तास्विवेदसंख्यं शककालमपास्य चैत्रशुक्लादो। अर्धास्तमिते भानौ यवनपुरे सौम्यदिवसाद्ये ॥ ८॥
(Pañcasiddhāntika, Chap. 1, edited by Dr. G. THIBAUT and SUDHAKARA DVIVEDI).
4 See PETERSON's Fourth Report, p. xxvii, and PETERSON 3, xvi. In the Nyāyāvatāra-vivrti itself there is no mention of Candra-prabha Sūri. I found somewhere that he was the author of it. The authorship of the Nyāyāvatāravivști must, however, for the present remain an open question.
5 See Dr. R. G. BHANDARKAR's Report, 1883-84, p. 147. -.