Acarya Pujyapada and His Works

Summary

Dr M. Jalendiran’s study profiles the life and contributions of Ācārya Pūjyapāda Devanandi, one of the most illustrious scholars of the Digambara Jain tradition. Because early Jain teachers rarely mentioned their names in their works, the author relies on traditional lists and later commentaries to reconstruct Pūjyapāda’s biography and chronology. Pūjyapāda is portrayed as a successor to Ācārya Samantabhadra and a leading figure of the Nandi‑saṃgha, active around the 7th century CE. The article quotes passages from the ‘Rājāvalikatā’ describing his birth in Kollagala (Karnāṭaka), his Brahmin family, and his spiritual awakening after witnessing a frog being swallowed by a snake. Renouncing worldly life, he became an ascetic and was renowned for his yogic powers and compassion. Jalendiran recounts legends showing his charitable nature, such as providing alms to his sister’s family through miraculous means. A substantial section surveys references to Pūjyapāda by later scholars—including Ācārya Devasena, Jinasena, and modern historians—emphasising that many citations refer specifically to Devanandi‑Pūjyapāda, author of the encyclopaedic ‘Sarvārthasiddhi’ and other treatises like ‘Iṣṭopadeśa’ and ‘Daśabhakti’. These works encompass philosophy, ethics, devotion and even Ayurveda and astrology, reflecting Pūjyapāda’s encyclopaedic knowledge. Jalendiran notes that although multiple teachers bore the title ‘Pūjyapāda’, the references consistently highlight the 7th‑century scholar’s authority on grammar, poetics and metaphysics. By assembling citations from epigraphs, commentaries and traditional genealogies, the article argues that Pūjyapāda was instrumental in systematising Digambara doctrine and establishing the Dravida‑saṃgha. His influence extended to later theoreticians and poets, who revered him as an exemplary yogi and erudite expositor of Jain scripture.