Akalaṅka

Akalanka nowiki/>IAST: Akalaṅka">IAST.html" ;"title="nowiki/>IAST">nowiki/>IAST: Akalaṅka(also known as ''Akalaṅkadeva'' and ''Bhatta Akalaṅka'') was a Jain logician whose Sanskrit-language works are seen as landmarks in Indian logic. He lived from 720 to 780 C. E. and belonged to the Digambara sect of Jainism. His work ''Aṣṭaśatī'', a commentary on '' Āptamīmaṃsa'' of Acharya Samantabhadra deals mainly with ''Jaina'' logic. He was a contemporary of Rashtrakuta king Krishna I. He is the author of Tattvārtharājavārtika, a commentary on major Jain text ''Tattvartha Sutra''. He greatly contributed to the development of the philosophy of ''Anekantavada'' and is therefore called the "Master of Jain logic".

Life

Akalanka flourished in 750 C. E. He was aware of the contents of the ''Angas'', although it cannot be said whether they represent an idea rather than a reality for him, and he also seems to have been the first Digambara to have introduced as a valid form of scriptural classification the division into ''kalika'' and ''utkalika'' texts which was also employed by the Śvetāmbaras. He is mentioned as a logician and a contemporary of Subhatunga and Rashtrakuta king Krishna I.

The samadhi of Acharya Akalanka is located between Thurupammor and Karanthai villages, at a distance of 19 km from Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu.

Works

The following Sanskrit-language works are attributed to Akalanka. Some of these are:

# ''Laghīyastraya:'' A compendium of three small treatises - ''Pramāṇapraveśa'', ''Nayapraveśa'', and ''Pravacanapraveśa''.
# ''Pramānasaṅgraha'': A work on epistemology or ''pramāṇa.''
# ''Nyāyaviniścaya:'' A work dealing with perception, inference and pravacana.
# ''Siddhiviniscaya-vivarana''
# ''Aṣṭaśatī'': A short but important commentary on Samantabhadra's Aptamimamsa.
# ''Tattvārtharājavārtika:'' A commentary on Tattvartha Sutra resembling to Nyāyavārtika of Udyotakara

See also

* Acharya Shri Akalanka Educational Trust
* Karanthai Samadhi of Acharya Akalanka at Thurupammor-Karanthai, Tamil Nadu Pushpathanathar Jain Temple, Thurupammor-Karanthai
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*Devardhigani Kshamashraman
*Hemachandra
*Hiravijaya

Notes

References

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Further reading

*Akalaṅka. ''Tattvārthavārttikā (Rājavārttikam)'', ed. Mahendrakumar, 2 vols, Kashi, 1953 and 1957.

{{Authority control

Digambara
Indian logicians
Indian Jain monks
Jain acharyas
8th-century Indian Jains
8th-century Jain monks
8th-century Indian monks
8th-century Indian mathematicians
8th-century Indian philosophers
720 births
780 deaths
Sanskrit writers