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.

English translation of the Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra (1917) by Champat Rai Jain

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
• Vijayadhavala tika

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.