A Note on Padmasundara and His Works

Summary

Padmasundara, a prominent Jain ascetic and scholar of the Nagapuriya Tapāgaccha, is celebrated for his literary output and spiritual influence. Historical sources, including the *Ain‑e‑Akbari*, suggest he is the figure “Paraminder” honoured at Emperor Akbar’s courtfile:///home/oai/share/split_out/04_A_Note_on_Padmasundara_and_His_Works.pdf#:~:text=By%20virtue%20of%20his%20literary,Ordained%20in%20the. He was a pupil of the scholar Padmamerufile:///home/oai/share/split_out/04_A_Note_on_Padmasundara_and_His_Works.pdf#:~:text=Nagapuriya%20Tapagaccha%2C%20an%20offshoot%20%E0%AA%AC,50%20fascinated%20by%20his%20multi. Akbar formed a close friendship with him and retained a collection of his books; after Padmasundara’s death, the emperor presented these works to the later Acharya Hiravijayasurifile:///home/oai/share/split_out/04_A_Note_on_Padmasundara_and_His_Works.pdf#:~:text=dimensional%20personality%20that%20he%20came,for%20the%20veracity%20of%20the. The poet Devavimala, in his *Hirasaubhagya*, lists these works and notes that they included a *mahākāvya* (epic poem) titled *Yadusundara*file:///home/oai/share/split_out/04_A_Note_on_Padmasundara_and_His_Works.pdf#:~:text=poetic%20biography%20of%20Hiravijaya%2C%20not,Hiraviyaja. Scholars once thought Padmasundara died between 1575 and 1582 because his last known work, *Pramāṇasundara*, dates to V.S. 1632file:///home/oai/share/split_out/04_A_Note_on_Padmasundara_and_His_Works.pdf#:~:text=in%20V,mahakavya%20in%20twelve%20cantos%2C%20seems. However, the discovery of *Yadusundara*, a twelve‑canto epic whose style is flamboyant and reminiscent of Śrī Harṣa’s *Naiṣadhacarita*, indicates that he was still active after 1575. The article argues that this poem likely dates from 1575–1581 and that Padmasundara probably died around 1581file:///home/oai/share/split_out/04_A_Note_on_Padmasundara_and_His_Works.pdf. This revision suggests he lived at least six years longer than previously believedfile:///home/oai/share/split_out/04_A_Note_on_Padmasundara_and_His_Works.pdf#:~:text=%281580,supposedly%20last%20work%2C%20Pramdnasundara%2C%20to. Padmasundara’s friendship with Akbar is further reflected in works such as *Akbarasahi‑Śṛṅgāra‑Darpaṇa*, a treatise on poetics composed at the emperor’s request to explain the theory of *rasa*file:///home/oai/share/split_out/04_A_Note_on_Padmasundara_and_His_Works.pdf#:~:text=Some%20of%20his%20other%20works,of%20its%20codices%20is%20unambiguous. Other known works include *Parśvanātha‑kāvya*, *Rāyamallabhyudaya*, *Jñānacandrodaya‑nāṭaka*, *Pramāṇasundara* and the lexicon *Sundaraprākāśaśabdārṇava*. Collectively, these works cover poetry, drama, rhetoric, lexicography and philosophy, demonstrating his versatilityfile:///home/oai/share/split_out/04_A_Note_on_Padmasundara_and_His_Works.pdf#:~:text=friendship%20with%20Akbar,defeated%20a%20band%20of%20%C2%A2.