Siddhi Vinischay Tika Part 01

Author(s): Anantviryacharya
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 46

2. THE AUTHORS: AKALANKA
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(©) The Life-story of Akalanka :
It is a matter of regret that we do not possess authoritative biography by his immediate successors; nor did he ever write anything about himself. It is a very characteristic feature of Indian authors that they seldom write anything about themselves. At the top of this, the successors too, at times,
e silent about them. It is interesting to find that Harisena's Kathakosal is silent about Samantabhadra and Akalanka, even though both of them were, no doubt, epoch-makers. Harişeņa gives the date of the completion of his work as-Saka 853 (931 A.C.). The first reference to Akalanka occurs in the Kathakoşa, in prose, of Prabhācandra. The Prasasti of the said text suggests that this work is written by Prabhācandra, the wellknown author of Nyāyakumudacandra and Prameyakamalamārtanda. It has been proved that the date of Prabhācandra is 980-1065 A.C2. The Kathakoșa was composed during the regime of Jayasimhadeva (1055 A.C.)3. This is the only reliable text, providing substantial evidence, to know something about the life of Akalarka. This very text was recomposed in poetic form, with some alterations here and there, by Brahma-Nemidatta; this fact is clearly mentioned by the author himself. We have one more text, viz., Rājāvalikathe, which refers to Akalanka; but it is not of much help as it belongs to a very late period, i.e., sixteenth century.
The Kathākoșa (KK) of Prabhācandra and Nemidatta refer to the life-story of Akalarka as follows: The King Subhaturga of Mānyakheta had a minister named Purusottama. He had two sons : Akalanka and Nikalańka. Once, both the brothers accompanied their parents on their way to the temple on the occasion of Așțāhnika festival. On this auspicious day the parents took the vow of celibacy and initiated the boys also to the same. At the prime of their youth, they did not marry in conformity to the vow taken. The father persuaded the sons that vow was meant only for eight days ; but the sons, persistent in their determination, made it a life-long vow. So they utilised their time in studying the scriptures. They joined the Buddha-math in disguise in order to study. The teacher, while teaching the Dignāgas attack on Anekānta, could not make out the text due to some mistake and he suspended the class that day. The very next day he found the text corrected; this led him to suspect that a Jaina student must be in their midst in disguise. In order to spot out such a student
1 See Hindi Intro. p. 11. * Nayāyakumudacandra (NKC), vol. II, pp. 50-58. * Dr. A. N. Upadhye holds the same view. See his Intro. to Brhatkathakoșa, pp.
60-62; see also Hindi Intro. p. 11 Note 3. 4 vide Hindi Intro. p. 11, Note 6; see also NKC. II. p. 26