Samantabhadra (Jain monk)

Samantabhadra is said to have lived from 150 CE to 250 CE. He was from southern India during the time of Chola dynasty. He was a poet, logician, eulogist and an accomplished linguist.^[3] He is credited with spreading Jainism in southern India.^[4]

Samantabhadra, in his early stage of asceticism, was attacked with a disease known as bhasmaka (the condition of insatiable hunger).^[5] As, digambara monks don't eat more than once in a day, he endured great pain. Ultimately, he sought the permission of his preceptor to undertake the vow of Sallekhana.^[6] The preceptor denied the permission and asked him to leave monasticism and get the disease cured.^[5] After getting cured he again joined the monastic order and became a great Jain Acharya.^[7]

Samantabhadra affirmed Kundakunda's theory of the two nayas - vyavahāranaya (‘mundane') and niścayanaya (ultimate, omniscient). He argued however that the mundane view is not false, but is only a relative form of knowledge mediated by language and concepts, while the ultimate view is an immediate form of direct knowledge.^[8] Samantabhadra also developed further the Jain theory of syādvāda.^{[citation needed]}

 

Jain texts authored by Acharya Samantabhadra are:^[9]

• Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra^[10] (150 verses)- The Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra discusses the conduct of a Śrāvaka (Jain laity) in detail.^[4]
• Gandhahastimahabhasya, a monumental commentary on the Tattvartha Sutra. The Gandhahaslimahahhasya, with the exception of its Manglacharana (salutation to the deity), is extant now.^[11] The Manglacharana is known as the 'Devagama stotra' or Āpta-mīmāṁsā.^[4][12]
• Āpta-mīmāṁsā- A treatise of 114 verses, it discusses the Jaina concept of omniscience and the attributes of the Omniscient.^[4][13]
• Svayambhustotra (fifth century CE)^[14] - A Sanskrit adoration of The Twenty-four Tirthankaras^[15] - 143 verses.^[4] It was later translated by Dhyanatray (1676-1726) in Agra.^[14]
• Yuktyanusasana- Sixty-four verses in praise of Tirthankara Vardhamāna Mahāvīra^[4]
• Jinasatakam (Stutividyā)^[16](116 verses)- Poetical work written in Sanskrit in praise of twenty-four Jinas.^[17]
• Tattvanusasana^{[citation needed]}
• Vijayadhavala tika^{[citation needed]}

Jinasena, in his celebrated work, Ādi purāṇa praises the Samantabhadra as^[18]

Acharya Samantrabhadra’s glory reigned supreme among all poets, scholars, disputants, and preachers; he was like a jewel on their heads.

• Devardhigani Kshamashraman
• Hemachandra
• Hiravijaya

• Ghoshal, Saratchandra (2002), Āpta-mīmāṁsā of Āchārya Samantabhadra, Bharatiya Jnanpith, ISBN 9788126307241
• Jain, Vijay K. (2015), Acarya Samantabhadra's Svayambhustotra: Adoration of The Twenty-four Tirthankara, Vikalp Printers, ISBN 978-81-903639-7-6,   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• Jain, Gokulchandra (2015), Samantabhadrabhāratī (1st ed.), Budhānā, Muzaffarnagar (U.P.): Achārya Shāntisāgar Chani Smriti Granthmala, ISBN 978-81-90468879
• Jain, Champat Rai (1917), The Ratna Karanda Sravakachara, The Central Jaina Publishing House,   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• Long, Jeffery D. (2009), Jainism: An Introduction, I.B. Tauris, ISBN 978-1-84511-625-5
• Orsini, Francesca; Schofield, Katherine Butler, eds. (1981), Tellings and Texts: Music, Literature and Performance in North India, Open Book Publishers, ISBN 978-1-78374-105-2
• Shah, Natubhai (2004) [First published in 1998], Jainism: The World of Conquerors, vol. I, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-1938-1

• Jain, Vijay K. (2016). Ācārya Samantabhadra’s Āptamīmāmsā (Devāgamastotra) आचार्य समन्तभद्र विरचित "आप्तमीमांसा". Dehradun: Vikalp Printers. ISBN 81-903639-8-0.
• Jain, Vijay K. (2016). Ācārya Samantabhadra’s Ratnakarandaka-śrāvakācāra. Dehradun: Vikalp Printers. ISBN 81-903639-9-9. OCLC 953615751.
• Jain, Vijay K. (2015). Ācārya Samantabhadra’s Svayambhūstotra आचार्य समन्तभद्र विरचित "स्वयम्भूस्तोत्र". Dehradun: Vikalp Printers. ISBN 81-903639-7-2.