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CONTRIBUTIONS TO LITERATURE, ETC.
720 A. D. as the probable date of Samantabhadra, agrees to the earlier ( 2nd cent. A. D.) date in his revised edition of Coorg Inscriptions. 17 This is also the date according to the Pațţāvalis.18
Much of what is known of Samantabhadra is inerely legendary. Nevertheless, in the Śravaņa Belgoļa inscription, already referred to, he is described as 'one whose sayings are an adamantine goad to the elephant the disputant, and by whose power this whole earth became barren (i.e. was rid) of even the talk of false speakers.' . The clear jewel lamp of Samantabhadra's sayings,' it says, ' lights up indeed the whole palace of the three worlds which is filled with all the categories stamped with the Syātkāra and whose interior is concealed by the darkness of the sayings of false speakers '19 That he must have been a very great disputant is also indicated by the title “ Vädi-mukhya" given to him in the Amékānta-jayapatāka by Haribhadrasūri, a Svetāmbara writer.20 Samantabhadra is in fact the last among Digambara teachers who find a place in the Svetāmbara lists as well. According to these latter he was their sixteenth pontiff, 889 A. V. or c. 419 A. D.21 His Apta-mimamsa, perhaps his best known work, is supposed to be the introductory portion of his Gandahasti-mahābhāşya already referred to. The colophon to this work, as preserved in a manuscript now in the possession of Pt. Dorabali-Šāstri of Sravaņa Belgoļa, reads :
दिवि फणिमंडलालंकारस्योरेगपुराधिपमनोः श्रीस्वामिसमंतभद्रमुनेः कृतौ HATHIETTI 1 22
The Uragapura spoken of in this is identified with Uraiyoor the capital of the Coļas. But this fact needs confirmation.23 However, his activities seem to have spread over the whole of
17 Cf. Rice, Mysore and Coorg Inscriptions, Ep. Car. I, p. 4 n 1. 18 Hoernle, op. cit., p. 341. 19 Ep. Car. II, SB 254, Trans., p. 110. 30 Jaina Sühitya-samsodhak I, pp. 19-20; cf. Hirālāl, op. cit. p. x. 21 Ibid., p. x. 22 Ibid., p. xi. 28 Ibid,
| SR No. | 011062 |
| Book Title | Jainism and Karnataka Culture |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | S R Sharma |
| Publisher | Karnataka Historical Research Society Dharwar |
| Publication Year | 1940 |
| Total Pages | 263 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 9 MB |