Jayanta Bhatta was a Kashmiri poet and a philosopher of the Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy. In his philosophical treatise Nyayamanjari and drama Agamadambara, Jayanta mentions the king Shankaravarman as his contemporary. Also, his son Abhinanda in his Kadambari-kathasara, mentioned that the great grandfather of Jayanta was a minister of King Lalitaditya of 8th century CE. So most probably Jayanta belonged to the last quarter of 9th Century CE.
Ancestry
From Abhinanda's Kadambari-kathasara, we came to know about the genealogy of Jayanta. His ancestor Shakti was a Brahmin of Bharadvajagotra from Gauda, who settled at Darvabhisara, a place at the border of Kashmir. His son was Mitra and grandson was Shaktisvamin. Shaktisvamin, great grandfather of Jayanta was a minister of Karkota dynastyking of Kashmir Lalitaditya Muktapida. Jayanta in Nyayamanjari mentioned that his grandfather obtained a village named Gauramulaka from the king. The name of Jayanta's father was Chandra.
Childhood
Jayanta was born in a Brahmin family. He soon turned out to be a child prodigy. At a young age he composed a commentary to Panini’s Ashtadhyayi and earned the name Nava-Vrittikara.
Major philosophical works
Jayanta wrote three known treatises on Nyaya philosophy, of which only two are extant, his magnum opus, the Nyayamanjari and the Nyayakalika. His third work, Pallava though quoted in Syadvadaratnakara is not yet found. Jayanta mentioned in his Nyayamanjari, that he wrote this treatise during his confinement in a forest by the king. This treatise is unique in the sense that this is an independent work, not a commentary of an earlier work, which was the common practice of the day. Secondly according to Jayanta, purpose of Nyaya is to protect the authority of the Vedas, whereas earlier Nyaya scholars considered Nyaya as an Anvikshiki for providing the true knowledge about the real nature of the objects of cognition.
His major literary work is , a Sanskrit play in four acts. The hero of his quasi-philosophical drama was a young graduate of the Mimansa school, who wanted to defeat all opponents of Vedas with reasoning.
