Somadeva Suri


Somadeva Suri was a south Indian Jain monk of the 10th century CE, author of a work known as "Upasakadyayana" "chapter on lay followers ", a central work of Digambara shravakacara literature, i.e. instructions and prescriptions for shravakas or Jain lay followers.

Lineage

Somadeva was a disciple of Acharya Nemideva of Devasangha section of Mula Sangh. Somadeva composed Yashstilaka in the domain of Vagaraj, a feudatory of Rashtrakuta Krishna III. He is mentioned in copperplate and an inscription of the Chalukya clan.
Vadiraja, author of Yashodhara-charita, and Pushpasena, (the teacher of Vadibhasimha, author of Gadyachintamani, were both disciples of Somadeva Suri.

Residence

Somadeva Suri was a member of the Gauda Sangha. Before 957, he was at the court of the Pratihara king Mahendrapala II, at Kanyakubja. There, he wrote Niti-vakya-amrita, and possibly Trivarga-Mahedra-Matali-jalpa.
Later, he migrated the Vemulavada Chalukya kingdom. There, he composed Yashodhara-charita during the reign of Baddega II, at Gangadhara town.

Works

"Upasakadyayana" is a section of the champu text Yashastilaka. Girish Karnad's play Bali is based on Yashastilaka.
Somadeva Suri also wrote the Nitivakyamrtam "Nectar of the Science of Polity" , a treatise on statecraft. The text of the Nitivakyamrtam mentions that Somadeva was also the author of a literary work called Yashastilaka.
He is sometimes regarded as a "revolutionary thinker of early medieval India", in his works
he discusses the vices which brought to the country the conquest of the Muslims. It is notable that he describes the use of hydraulics for irrigating a garden.