Samantabhadra (Jain monk)

Acharya Shri 108 Samantabhadra Ji Maharaj
Digambar acharya
Religion	Jainism
Sect	Digambara
Personal
Born	2nd century CE
Religious career
Works	Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra, Āpta-mīmāṁsā, Jinaśatakam

Samantabhadra was a Digambara acharya (head of the monastic order) who lived about the later part of the second century A.D.^[1][2] He was a great proponent of the Jaina doctrine of Anekantavada. The Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra is the most popular work of Acharya Samantabhadra. Acharya Samantabhadra lived after Acharya Umaswami but before Acharya Pujyapada.

Life

Samantabhadra is said to have lived from 450 CE to 550 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]

Disease

Acharya 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 Jain monasticism and get the disease cured.^[5] After getting cured he again joined the monastic order and became a great Jain Acharya.^[7]

Works

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

Jain texts authored by Acharya Samantabhadra are:^[8]

• Ratnakaranda śrāvakācāra^[9] (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.^[10] The Manglacharana is known as the 'Devagama stotra' or Āpta-mīmāṁsā.^[4][11]
• Āpta-mīmāṁsā- A treatise of 114 verses, it discusses the Jaina concept of omniscience and the attributes of the Omniscient.^[4][12]
• Svayambhustotra- An adoration of The Twenty-four Tirthankaras^[13] - 143 verses^[4]
• Yuktyanusasana- Sixty-four verses in praise of Tirthankara Vardhamāna Mahāvīra^[4]
• Jinasatakam (Stutividyā)^[14](116 verses)- Poetical work written in Sanskrit in praise of twenty-four Jinas.^[15]
• Tattvanusasana
• Vijayadhavala tika

Praise

Acharya Jinasena, in his celebrated work, Ādi purāṇa praises the Acharya Samantabhadra as^[16]

“

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

”

References

1. Dr. Gokulchandra Jain 2015, p. 82.
2. Jain 1917, p. iv.
3. Natubhai Shah 2004, p. 48.
4. Natubhai Shah 2004, p. 49.
5. Jain 2015, p. xviii.
6. Long 2013, p. 110.
7. Jain 2015, p. xx.
8. Dr. Gokulchandra Jain 2015, p. 84.
9. Samantabhadra, Ācārya (2006-07-01). Ratnakaranda Shravakacara. ISBN 9788188769049.
10. Jain 1917, p. v.
11. Ghoshal 2002, p. 7.
12. Jain 2015, p. xvii.
13. Jain 2015, p. xi.
14. Samantabhadrasvāmī (1969). Kevalajñānapraśnacūḍāmaṇi.
15. Dr. Gokulchandra Jain 2015, p. 92.
16. Jain 2015, p. xv.

Sources

• Ghoshal, Saratchandra (2002), Āpta-mīmāṁsā of Āchārya Samantabhadra, ISBN 9788126307241
• Jain, Vijay K. (2015), Acarya Samantabhadra’s Svayambhustotra: Adoration of The Twenty-four Tirthankara, Vikalp Printers, ISBN 9788190363976, Non-Copyright
• Dr. Gokulchandra Jain (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.
• Long, Jeffery D. (2013-03-22). Jainism. ISBN 9780857713926.
• Shah, Natubhai (2004) [First published in 1998], Jainism: The World of Conquerors, I, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-1938-1