Kundakunda

His proper name was Padmanandin,{{sfn|Jayandra Soni|2003|p=26}} he is popularly referred to as Kundakunda possibly because the modern village of Konakondla in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh which is his birth place.{{sfn|Natubhai Shah|2004|p=48}}{{sfn|Upinder Singh|2008|p=524}} He is also presumed to be the one being alluded to by names such as Elacarya, Vakragriva, Grdhrapiccha or Mahamati.{{sfn|Jayandra Soni|2003|p=26}} He is also called Thiruvalluvar, the author of tamil classical Thirukkural, besides many other cannons in jain literature.

File:Djtradition marhiaji.jpg

Kundakunda belonged to the Digambara sect. Natubhai Shah places him in the second-century CE.{{sfn|Natubhai Shah|2004|p=48}} Jayandra Soni places him in either the 2nd– or 3rd–century CE.{{sfn|Jayandra Soni|2003|pp=25–26}} Western scholars, however, place him much later primarily because of ideas he refers to and because his hagiography and quotations from his influential and important work begin to appear around 8th-century CE. For example, Paul Dundas dates him to about mid-8th-century.{{sfn|Dundas|2002|pp=107–108}}{{sfn|Long|2013|pp=65–66}}

In the Digambara tradition, Kundakunda's texts are among the most important and treasured. The reverence for his scholarship is such that some later texts such as Pravachanasara list him third in importance, right after Mahavira and Mahavira's disciple Indrabhuti Gautama.{{sfn|Jaini|1991|p=32}} A.N. Upadhye in his critical edition of the Pravachansara suggests Kundakunda to have lived in the middle of the 2nd century CE.{{sfn|Jaini|1991|p=32–33}}

In texts such as Pravacanasāra

(‘The Essence of the Doctrine’) and Samayasāra (‘The Essence of the Soul’), Kundakunda distinguishes between two perspectives of truth:

• vyavahāranaya or ‘mundane perspective’, also delusion (moha)
• niścayanaya or ‘ultimate perspective’, also called “supreme” (paramārtha) and “pure” (śuddha){{sfn|Long|2013|p=126}}

For Kundakunda, the mundane realm of truth is also the relative perspective of normal folk, where the workings of karma operate and where things emerge, last for a certain duration and perish. The mundane aspect is associated with the changing qualities of the soul mainly the influx of karmic particles. The ultimate perspective meanwhile, is that of the pure soul or atman, the jiva, which is "blissful, energetic, perceptive, and omniscient".{{sfn|Long|2013|p=126}} Delusion and bondage is caused by the confusion of the workings of karma with the true nature of the soul, which is always pure, in other words, it is caused by taking the view of vyavahāranaya, not the higher niścayanaya which is the absolute perspective of a Jina - Kevala Jnana. His view has become the mainstream view in Digambara Jainism.{{sfn|Long|2013|p=128}}

File:Panchastikayasara.pdf

File:Niyamsara.jpg

The works attributed to Kundakunda, all of them in Prakrit,{{sfn|Upinder Singh|2008|p=524}} can be divided in three groups.

The first group comprises four original works described as "The Essence" (sara)—namely, the Niyamasāra (The Essence of the Restraint, in 187 verses), the Pañcāstikāyasāra (The Essence of the Five Existents, in 153 verses), the Samayasāra (The Essence of the Self, in 439 verses), and the Pravacanasāra (The Essence of the Teaching, in 275 verses).{{sfn|Natubhai Shah|2004|p=48}}

The second group is a collection of ten bhaktis (devotional prayers), short compositions in praise of the acharya (Acharyabhakti), the scriptures (Srutabhakti), the mendicant conduct (Charitrabhakti), and so forth. They form the standard liturgical texts used by the Digambaras in their daily rituals and bear close resemblance to similar, more ancient texts written by the Śvētāmbaras, suggesting the possibility of adoption of some ideas of devotional prayers from the Śvētāmbara canon.Winternitz, Maurice (1972), A History of Indian Literature Vol. II. Buddhist Literature and Jaina Literature (2nd ed.), University of Calcutta

The last group consists of eight short texts called Prabhrta (Pkt. pahuda, i.e., a gift or a treatise), probably compilations from some older sources, on such topics as the right view (Darsanaprabhrta, in 36 verses), right conduct (Charitraprabhrta, in 44 verses), the scripture (Sutraprabhrta, in 27 verses), and so forth.

• Simandhar Swami
• Devardhigani Kshamashraman
• Hemachandra
• Hiravijaya

{{Reflist|20em}}

• {{citation |last=Cort |first=John E. |author-link=John E. Cort |title=Open Boundaries: Jain Communities and Cultures in Indian History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WWfnXbVWjKcC |publisher=SUNY Press |date=10 July 1998 |isbn=0-7914-3785-X }}
• {{cite book |last=Dundas |first=Paul |title=The Jains |year=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-26606-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jt6-YXE2aUwC}}
• {{citation|last=Jain|first=Vijay K.|title=Acharya Kundkund's Samayasara|url=https://archive.org/details/Smayasara1AWeb/page/n1/mode/2up|year=2012|publisher=Vikalp Printers|isbn=978-81-903639-3-8}}
• {{citation |author=Jayandra Soni|editor-last=Balcerowicz |editor-first=Piotr |editor-link=Piotr Balcerowicz |title=Essays in Jaina Philosophy and Religion |url=https://archive.org/details/essaysinjainaphilosophyandreligionedpiotrbalcerowicz/page/n1/mode/2up|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |date=2003 |orig-year=2002 |isbn=81-208-1977-2 }}
• {{citation | last =Jaini | first =Padmanabh | title =Gender and Salvation: Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Liberation of Women| url= http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft138nb0wk;brand=ucpress| publisher =University of California Press| year =1991 | location =Berkeley}}
• {{cite book |last=Long |first=Jeffery D. |title=Jainism: An Introduction |date= 2013 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=978-0-85771-392-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3gAAwAAQBAJ}}
• {{citation |last=Shah |first=Natubhai |author-link=Natubhai Shah |title=Jainism: The World of Conquerors |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qLNQKGcDIhsC |volume=I |date=2004 |orig-year=First published in 1998 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=81-208-1938-1 |ref={{sfnref|Natubhai Shah|2004}} }}
• {{citation|last=Singh|first=Upinder|author-link=Upinder Singh|title=A history of ancient and early medieval India : from the Stone Age to the 12th century|date=2008|publisher=Pearson Education|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-317-1120-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GW5Gx0HSXKUC|ref={{sfnref|Upinder Singh|2008}}}}
• {{citation |title=The Date of Kundakundācārya, Aspects of Jainology Vol. III: Pt. Dalsukh Bhai Malvania Felicitation Volume I. Varanasi|volume = I|pages = 187–206|editor1-last=Dhaky|editor1-first= M.A.|editor2-last=Jain|editor2-first=Sagarmal|year = 1991}}

• {{cite book|last=Jain|first=Vijay K.|title=Ācārya Kundakunda’s Bārasa Aṇuvekkhā – The Twelve Contemplations आचार्य कुन्दकुन्द विरचित बारस अणुवेक्खा (द्वादश अनुप्रेक्षा, बारह भावना)|publisher=Vikalp Printers|publication-place=Dehradun|date=2021|isbn=978-93-5566-134-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Jain|first=Vijay K.|title=Ācārya Kundakunda’s Niyamasāra – The Essence of Soul-adoration आचार्य कुन्दकुन्द विरचित "नियमसार"|publisher=Vikalp Printers|publication-place=Dehradun|date=2019|isbn=978-81-932726-3-3}}
• {{cite book|last=Jain|first=Vijay K.|title=Ācārya Kundakunda’s Pańcāstikāya-saṃgraha – With Authentic Explanatory Notes in English (The Jaina Metaphysics)|publisher=Vikalp Printers|publication-place=Dehradun|date=2020|isbn=978-81-932726-5-7}}
• {{cite book|last=Jain|first=Vijay K.|title=Ācārya Kundakunda’s Pravacanasāra – Essence of the Doctrine|publisher=Vikalp Printers|publication-place=Dehradun|date=2018|isbn=978-81-932726-1-9}}
• {{cite book|last=Jain|first=Vijay K.|title=Ācārya Kundakunda’s Rayaṇasāra आचार्य कुन्दकुन्द विरचित रयणसार|publisher=Vikalp Printers|publication-place=Dehradun|date=2023|isbn=978-93-5980-180-3}}
• {{cite book|last=Jain|first=Vijay K.|title=Ācārya Kundakunda’s Samayasāra – with Hindi and English Translation आचार्य कुन्दकुन्द विरचित समयसार|publisher=Vikalp Printers|publication-place=Dehradun|date=2022|isbn=978-93-5680-382-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Jain|first=Vijay K. |title=Âchârya Kundkund’s Samayasāra श्रीमदाचार्य कुन्दकुन्द विरचित समयसार|publisher=Vikalp Printers|publication-place=Dehradun|date=2012|isbn=81-903639-3-X|oclc=811822895}}
• Kundakunda. Niyamasāra, ed. and trans. U. Sain, Lucknow, 1931.
• Kundakunda. Pravacanasāra with Amṛtacandra’s commentary, ed. A. N. Upadhye, Bombay, 1935.
• Kundakunda. Samayasāra, text, trans. and comm. by A. Chakravarti, Banaras, 1930.

{{Commonscat}}

• [http://www.ibiblio.org/jainism/database/ARTICLE/kunda.doc Jain Literature and Kundakunda]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120204062034/http://www.jainworld.com/guru/wkundku.htm Acharya Kundkund]

{{Jain Gurus}}

{{Jainism Topics}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:2nd-century BC births

Category:Year of death unknown

Category:Jain acharyas

Category:Jain philosophy

Category:1st-century BC Indian writers

Category:Indian Jain writers

Category:Indian Jain monks

Category:1st-century BC Indian Jains

Category:1st-century BC Jain monks

Category:1st-century BC Indian monks

Category:Indian male writers