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Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c18: Nami-Sādhu

Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c18

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Nami-Sādhu

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After Vallabhadeva, comes Nami (known as Nami-sādhu or Nami-paṇḍita), who is described as a Śveta-vikṣu, indicating that he was a Jaina belonging to that persuasion. He describes himself as "the bee that sucked honey from the lotus-feet of Śrī-śālibhadra Sūri, the ornament of the gaccha of the city of Thārāpadra". We know that Jinabhadra Sūri, who was a pupil of Śālibhadra, wrote in *saṃvat* 1204 = 1148 A.D.¹ Śālibhadra is also referred to as Śrī-śāli-sūri in another work of Nami's called *Sadāvaśyaka-ṭīkā*, of which the date is given in the work itself as *saṃvat* 1122 = 1066 A.D.² In one of the concluding verses of his commentary on Rudraṭa, Nami states that this commentary was composed in *saṃvat* 1125 = 1069 A.D.³ Among the writers on Poetics cited by Nami on Rudraṭa, we find the names of Bharata (p. 150, 156, 164), Medhāvirudra (pp. 2, 9, 145), Bhāmaha (p. 2, 116), Daṇḍin (pp. 2, 5, 169), Vāmana (pp. 11, 100, 116), Udbhaṭa (pp. 69, 82, 150) and the *Arjuna-carita* by Ānandavardhana. He also cites *Tilaka-mañjarī* (on xvi 3) apparently of Dhana-pāla, and one Jayadeva on prosody (on i 18, 20)¹.

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¹ Peterson i p. 68.

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² Peterson iii p. 13.

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³ *pañca-viṃśati saṃyuktair ekādaśa samāśataiḥ | vikramāt samatikrāntaiḥ prāvṛṣidaṃ samarthitam.* The reading *pañca-viṃśati* in this verse is doubted on the authority of Kielhorn's palm-leaf MS (*Report*, 1880-81, p. 63) which reads instead *ṣaṭ-saptati*. This new reading will place Nami much

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¹ Also quoted by Janārdana, *ABod* 198a. Wrote a *Chandaḥ-śāstra*, Kielhorn *Report* 1890-81 p. 87.

Āsādhara

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Peterson (ii. p. 85) brought to our notice another Jaina commentator on Rudraṭa, called Āsādhara, son of Sallaḳsaṇa and Ratni. He was a Jaina teacher who lived till *saṃvat* 1296 = 1240 A.D. He should be distinguished from Āsādhara, son of Rāmaji Bhaṭṭa, a very late writer who composed a commentary on Appayya’s *Kuvalayānanda*². At the end of his *Dharmāmṛta*, our Āsādhara gives his own history. He belonged to the family of Vyāghreravāla and was the son of Sallaḳsaṇa (or Lakṣaṇa) and Ratni. He was born in the fortress of Maṇḍalakara situated in the country round the Śākambharī (Sambhar) Lake. He had by his wife Sarasvatī a son named Chāhaḍa, who was a favourite of Arjunavarman of Mālava (first quarter of the 13th century). After the invasion of Sāhibadina, king of the Turuṣkas (apparently *Shāhābu-d-din Ghūr*, Sultān of Delhī, who vanquished Pṛthurāja in 1193 A.D.), Āsādhara emigrated to

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² The two are confused by Aufrecht i 54b and, following him, by Haricānd Śāstri p. 18.

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later; but it is not supported by other MSS (e.g. Mitra 3102; Stein 61; Peterson i p. 16), as well as by the evidences adduced above from other sources. Kielhorn’s reading is obviously incorrect in itself, because it makes the verse deficient in metre.

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Mālava and lived in Dhārā, where he learned the doctrines of Jaina faith and Jinendra-vyākaraṇa from Paṇḍita Mahāvīra, pupil of Dharasena. Āśādhara was reputed for his learning, being praised by the sage Udayasena, the poet Vilhaṇa (sic) and the great yati, Madanakīrti. He wrote more than 15 works, of which he gives a list, referring also to his commentary on Rudraṭa¹. His *Triṣaṣṭi-smṛti-śāstra* was composed in 1236 A.D.²

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¹ Peterson ii p. 85 and fn; Bhandarkar *Rep.* 1883-84, pp. 103-4.

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² Aufrecht i 54b.

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