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2. THE AUTHORS: AKALANKA
hiviniscaya :
The detailed discussion on this will be given in a separate section No. 3.
Besides the above mentioned works there are some others such as Svarūpasambodhana, Nyāya-cūlikā, Akalankapratisthā-pāțha, Akalarka prāyaścitta-samgraha and Akalanka-stotra etc. attributed to Akalarika by tradition. But at a closer scrutiny it will be revealed that these works are not of Akalanka?; may be they were composed by various Akalankas2 who flourished after the great Akalanka.
(h) The contribution of Akalanka to Jainanyāya—Akalankanyāya :
There can be no doubt that Akalanka was an intellectual prodigy; he stands as a tower of strength and self-confidence in the firmament of Jaina-Nyāya. He brought dignity to Jaina-Nyāya by his examplary originality of his logical acumen. It stands much to his credit that he has established the Jaina-nyāya on a firmer footing. In fact he was fortunate to belong to the period of Indian Philosophical history which was surcharged by the sharp attacks and counter attacks by Dharmakīrti and his followers on the one hand and non-Būddhist-philosophers on the other.
The works of Akalarka echo the reflection and reaction of his times. The followers of Dharmakirti had used derogatory terms such as aślīla, akulapralāpa etc. to redicule, rather than refute, the Jaina Siddhānta. In order to combat these caustic critics, he realised the necessity of systematising the Jaina thought bringing out the strength of its teachings, before attempting to counter-attack, as a result of which we possess works systematising Jaina philosophy in general and logic in particular. His contribution to Logic is summarised below:
(1) the ‘avisamvāda non-discrepancy in the definition of Pramānas :
In Epistemology, Samantabhadra and Siddhasena4 used the term ‘svaparāvabhāsaka' and 'svaparābhāsi' respectively while defining the nature of valid knowledge. According to them valid knowledge or Pramāna is self-revelatory, in other words self-revelation is the essential character of the organ of knowledge (Pramāna). Akalanka introduces the term 'āvisamvādi 5 or non-discrepant to represent the essence of Pramāna; his
1 vide NKC, vol. I. Intro. pp. 58. ? ibid. p. 25. 3 Brhat-svayambhū stotra, v. 63. 4 Nyāyāvatāra, v. 1. 5 Astašati and Astasahasri, p. 175.
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