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Somadeva Suri

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Somadeva Suri was a south Indian Jain monk of the 10th century CE (fl. 959–66, possibly born in Bengal region about 920), author of a work known as "Upasakadyayana" "chapter on lay followers (upasakas)", a central work of Digambara shravakacara literature, i.e. instructions and prescriptions for shravakas or Jain lay followers.[1]

Quick Facts Aacharya Shri, Personal life ...

He also authored Yashastilaka, a 10th-century Sanskrit champu on the life of a king Yasodhara.

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Lineage

Somadeva was a disciple of Acharya Nemideva of Devasangha section of Mula Sangh (associated with Akalankadeva). Somadeva composed Yashstilaka in the domain of Vagaraj, a feudatory of Rashtrakuta Krishna III. He is mentioned in copperplate and an inscription of the Chalukya clan.

Vadiraja, author of Yashodhara-charita, and Pushpasena, (the teacher of Vadibhasimha, author of Gadyachintamani, were both disciples of Somadeva Suri.[2]

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Residence

Somadeva Suri was a member of the Gauda Sangha. Before 957, he was at the court of the Pratihara king Mahendrapala II, at Kanyakubja (modern Kannauj). There, he wrote Niti-vakya-amrita, and possibly Trivarga-Mahedra-Matali-jalpa.[3]

Later, he migrated the Vemulavada Chalukya kingdom. There, he composed Yashodhara-charita (or Yashas-tilaka-champu, c. 959) during the reign of Baddega II, at Gangadhara town.[3]

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Works

"Upasakadyayana" is a section of the champu text Yashastilaka. Girish Karnad's play Bali is based on Yashastilaka.[4]

Somadeva Suri also wrote the Nitivakyamrtam "Nectar of the Science of Polity" (ed. Sundaralala Sastri 1976, Menta 1987), a treatise on statecraft. The text of the Nitivakyamrtam mentions that Somadeva was also the author of a literary work called Yashastilaka (see Kavyamala, 70).

He is sometimes regarded as a "revolutionary thinker of early medieval India", in his works he discusses the vices (pratyuhasamuha) which brought to the country the conquest of the Muslims (Tajikas).[5] It is notable that he describes the use of hydraulics for irrigating a garden.[6]

References

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