Akalanka

Akalaṅka [ 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 Ācārya Samantabhadra deals mainly with Jaina logic. He was a contemporary of Rāṣṭrakūta king Krishna I. He is the author of Tattvārtharājavārtika, a commentary on major Jaina text Tattvārtha Sutra. He greatly contributed to the development of the philosophy of Anekāntavāda and is therefore called the "Master of Jain logic".

Life Akalaṅka flourished in 750 C. E. He was aware of the contents of the Aṅgas, 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 kālika and utkālika texts which was also employed by the Śvetāmbaras. He is mentioned as a logician and a contemporary of Subhatunga and Rāṣṭrakūta king Krishna I.

The samādhi of Akalaṅka 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 Akalaṅka. 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. Devardhigani Kshamashraman Hemachandra Hiravijaya