Pujyapada

Acharya Shri 108
Pujyapada
Ji Maharaj
Pujyapada
Digambara Acharya
Personal life
BornDevanandi
464 CE
Died524 (aged 59–60)
Parents
  • Madhava Bhatta (father)
  • Shridevi (mother)
Notable work(s)Sarvārthasiddhi, Iṣṭopadeśa
Religious life
ReligionJainism
SectDigambara
Religious career
Disciples

Acharya Pujyapada or Pūjyapāda (464–524 CE) was a renowned grammarian and acharya (philosopher monk) belonging to the Digambara tradition of Jains. It was believed that he was worshiped by demigods on the account of his vast scholarship and deep piety, and thus, he was named Pujyapada. He was said to be the guru of King Durvinita of the Western Ganga dynasty.

Life

Pujyapada is dated to have lived around 510 CE to 600 CE. Born as Devanandi to parents Madhava Bhatta and Shridevi, he became a Digambara monk, as well as a yogi, mystic, poet, scholar, author and master of several branches of learning. He was born in a Jain Brahmans (In Jain philosophy, a pratimādhārī shravaka—a layperson with vows—is considered a Brahman) family of Karnataka.

He earned the title Pujyapada since he is considered to have devas from heaven come to do puja of his feet (pada). He was heavily influenced by the writings of earlier Digambaras like Kundakunda and Samantabhadra. He is regarded as the greatest of the early masters of Jain literature. He was a prominent preceptor, with an impeccable ancestry and spiritual lineage. He was the tenth guru of the lineage of the Nandi Sangha which began with Kundakunda.

It is likely that he was the first Jain saint to write not only on religion but also on non-religious subjects, such as Ayurveda and Sanskrit grammar, and was a master of Sanskrit poetics and of ayurveda.[citation needed] All of his works, both prose and verse, were written in Sanskrit.

In his Sarvarthasiddhi, Pujyapada defined Dāna (charity) as the act of giving one's wealth to another for mutual benefit.

Works

Book cover of one of the English translation of Iṣṭopadeśa

See also

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Jain, Jyoti Prasad (2005), The Jaina Sources of the History of Ancient India (Second ed.), p. 102
  2. ↑ "Jaina Antiquary". Volume XVIII.1, pp 13-15.
  3. 1 2 3 Natubhai Shah 2004, p. 49.
  4. ↑ Introduction. Jain, Jaykumar.Samadhitantra. First edition, 2006.
  5. ↑ Page 98, Ibid.
  6. ↑ Jaini, Padmanabh S. (1998). The Jaina Path of Purification. p. 151.
  7. 1 2 3 Upinder Singh 2008, p. 524.
  8. ↑ Page 98, Jain, Jyoti Prasad. The Jaina Sources of the History of Ancient India. Second, revised edition: 2005.
  9. 1 2 Page 98, Ibid.
  10. 1 2 3 Balcerowicz 2003, p. 29.
  11. ↑ Ram Bhushan Prasad Singh 2008, p. 84.
  12. 1 2 Jain 2014, p. xiv.
  13. 1 2 Jain 2014, p. 15.

Sources

Further reading