Udayaprabha Suri Explained
| Udayaprabha Suri |
| Other Names: | Udaya-prabha-deva-suri |
| Occupation: | Jain monk, Sanskrit writer |
| Religion: | Jainism |
| Years Active: | 1221-1243 |
| Era: | Vaghela period |
| Notable Works: | Dharmabhyudaya, Sukrita Kirti Kallolini |
| Acharya |
Udaya-prabha Sūri (fl. 1221-43) was a Jain monk and writer from the Vaghela kingdom of present-day India. He was a member of the literary circle of the minister Vastupala, and wrote several Sanskrit-language works.
Biography
Udaya-prabha was a member of the Nagendra-gaccha, and a pupil of Vijaya-sena (died 1245). His lineage of teachers is as follows: Vijaya-sena, Hari-bhadra, Ananda and Amara-chandra (contemporaries of Jayasimha Siddharaja), Shanti-suri, and Mahendra-prabhu.[1]
He was a member of the literary circle of Vastupala, a minister in the Vaghela kingdom of present-day Gujarat and southern Rajasthan.[1] Vastupala invited distant scholars to teach Udaya-prabha various shastras, which suggests that Udaya-prabha was younger than Vastupala. The minister also organized an expensive function to appoint Udaya-prabha as an acharya.
Jina-bhadra, a disciple of Udaya-prabha, wrote or compiled several prabandha stories that are part of the Prabandhavali[2] and Puratana Prabandha Sangraha.[3] Mallisena, another disciple of Udaya-prabha Syadvada-manjari, a work on Jain philosophy in 1292 CE.
Works
Udayaprabha wrote several poems, prashastis, and commentaries, dated between 1221 and 1243.[1] His works include:
- Sukrita Kirti Kallolini (IAST: Sukṛta-kīrti-kallolinī, "River of the Glory of Good Deeds"[4]), a panegyric glorifying the deeds of Vastupala and Tejapala. It was composed in 1221 on the occasion of Vastupala's Samgha-yatra' pilgrimage, and inscribed on a slab at Shatrunjaya.
- Vastupala-stuti ("Praise of Vastupala"), another panegyric glorifying Vastupala.
- Dharmabhyudaya (or Purana Sangha-pati-charita), a work on Vijaya-sena's teaching of Jainism, written for Vastupala. It includes a number of Jain legends and an account of the history of Shatrunjaya.[5] The work is undated, but it was definitely composed before 1234, the year of a manuscript copied by Vastupala himself. It was probably composed in 1221 on the occasion of Vastupala's pilgrimage.
- Arambha-siddhi or Pancha-vimarsha, a work on astrology in 412 verses and 5 chapters. This text is known from over 70 manuscripts. There are several commentaries on this text, including some anonymous works, an avachurni by Samaya-ratna Gani, and a varttika by Hema-hamsa Gani (fl. 1458).[1]
- Upadesha-mala-karnika (IAST: Upadeśa-māla-karṇikā), a commentary on Dharmadasa Gani's Upadesha-mala. The author composed in 1243 at Dhavalakka (modern Dholka), at the suggestion of his teacher Vijaya-sena.
- A partially lost work, probably titled Shabda-brahmollasa, known from 47 surviving verses preserved on the fragments of a palm-leaf manuscript. The subject matter of the work is not clear from the surviving portion, although the title suggests that it was a treatise on the philosophy of grammar.
- Verses in a Girnar prashasti inscription of Vastupala.
- A 1225 CE 19-verse prashasti of a religious cottage (pausadha-shala) built by Vastupala at Stambha-tirtha.
Udayaprabha-Suri should not be confused with the 12th-century monk Udayaprabha, who was a pupil of Ravi-prabha-suri, and who wrote commentaries on Nemichandra's Pravachana-saroddhara and three Karma-granthas.
References
Bibliography
Further reading
- Udayaprabha Sūri. Dharmābhyudayamahākāvya, ed. Muni Caturavijaya and Muni Puṇyavijaya, Bombay, 1949.
Notes and References
- Book: David Pingree . David Pingree . Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit Series A . 1 . American Philosophical Society . 1970 . 57–58 .
- Book: Siba Pada Sen . Sources of the History of India . 1988 . Institute of Historical Studies . 4720835 . 196 .
- Book: Charlotte Krause . Ancient Jaina hymns . 1952 . Scindia Oriental Institute . 85851928 . 20 .
- Book: H. V. Sreenivasa Murthy . A History of Ancient India . 1963 . Bani Prakash Mandir . 30 .
- Book: A.K. Warder . Indian Kāvya Literature: The Wheel of Time . 7 . 1972 . Motilal Banarsidass . 604 . 9788120820289 .
