12. Exact Date of Amarakirti

12. Exact Date of Amarakirti, the Author of a Commentary on the Ritusamhara of Kalidasa -A. D. 1593 # In my note' on "A commentary on the Rtusamhara of Kalidasa by Amarakirtisuri" I drew the attention of scholars to the only Ms of this commentary available in the Govt. Mss Library at the B. O. R. Institute, Poona, viz. No. 372 of 1887-91. I tried also to fix the probable limits for the date of the author of this commentary viz. 1550 and 1600 A. D. and tentatively assigned Amarakirti to the 16 th century. The evidence for the limits of Amarakirti's date recorded by me was more probable than direct but since my note was published, I have come across the following evidence regarding Amarakirti's date which corroborates the limits fixed by me tentatively:In the Dictionary of Jain Biography the following entry has been recorded regarding Amarakirti Amarakirti - Under him a Ms of Jinadatta's Vivekavilasa was transcribed in Vik. Sam. 1649-Samvat 16493 varse bhadrapada mase Krsna-pakse, navamyam tithau, Somadine likhitoyam granthah. Sri... Nagapuriya tapa gaccha diraga bha. Sri Sri 3 Harsakirtisurih. Sri Sri 3 Amarakirti vijaya rajyapam. Sri Sri Rajakirtih tat-sisya likhitam Muni Ramakirtih Sri Ahipura-madhye. Akabbara(Akbar)rajye. Ref. Des. Cat. Cal. Sans. Coll. XI. p. 332". The Ms referred to in the above entry is deposited in the Library of the Calcutta Sanskrit College. It was copied in the year Annals (B. O. R. Institute), Vol. XVII, pp. 208-210. 1. Calcutta Oriental Journal, Vol. I, pp. 234-236. 2. A Dictionary of Jain Biography (Part I-A) compiled by Umrao Singh Tank, BA., LL. B., Pub. by the General Jain Publishing House, Arrah, 1917, p. 55. 3. Vide Indian Ephemeris, Vol. V, p. 387-The date of the Christian era corresponding to this date would be Monday, 18 th September 1592. 73

Samvat 1649 = A. D. 1592 (18 th September) at Ahipura (=modern Nagpur) when Amarakirti was at the head of the Nagapura tapagaccha during the reign of the Emperor Akbar. The above particulars furnished by the Ms of the Vivekavilasa are quite definite as regards time and place of the copy in question. We shall now try to identify Amarakirti mentioned in the colophon of the Ms of the Vivekavilasa with Amarakirti, the author of the commentary on the Rtusamhara, the only Ms of which is available in the Govt. Mss Library at the B. O. R. Institute. The B. O. R. I. Ms definitely ascribes the authorship of the commentary to_Amarakirti ("amara kirti vinimi [ta ]yam kavya vrttau sarvo'jani prathama esa nrpabhiramyah ") and this Amarakirti is further stated to be the head of the Nagapur tapogana ("nagapuriyatapoganabhupa sri amara kirti- viha (hi ) tayam rtuvarnanasya vrttau "). We are not aware of any other Amarakirti acting as the head of Nagapura tapagaccha between A. D. 1550 and 1600 and hence will be justified in identifying the author of the commentary on the Rtusamhara with his namesake under whom the Ms of the Vivekavilasa was copied at Nagapur in Samm. 1649 i.e. A. D. 1592 during Akbar's reign' (A. D. 1556-1605). If our identification of the two Amarakirtis is accepted, we shall have to assign the author of the commentary on the Rtusamhara to the last quarter of the 16 th century. The Dictionary of Jain Biography mentions two other namesakes of Amarakirti: (1) "A Dig. Bhattaraka, author of the Svayambhu-Sahasranama-Stotratika" and (2) "the Author of a commentary on Ratnasekharasuri's Sambodha-sitteri." I have not examined the question of the chronology of these two authors and hence am unable to say anything about it in the present note. The third namesake of our Amarakirti not recorded by the Dictionary of Jain Biography has been brought to our notice by Prof. Hiralal of Amraoti. He is distinct in all particulars of time 1. Akbar patronised the Jaina learned men. In A. D. 1582 he placed Hiravijaya Suri in the first division of the order of the Learned. In 1592 he conferred the title of yugapradhana on Jina candra Suri. An inscription of Samvat 1651-52 (A. D. 1594-95) at Anhilavada Patana describes the interview between Akbar and Jinacandra Suri (See Dict. of Jain Biography pp. 37-38). 2. Vide Jaina Antiquary Vol. II, Part 3, pp. 80-92 and Vol. II' Part 4, pp. 120-131 (1935-36).

and place from our Amarakirti of the Nagapura tapagaccha. He belongs to the "Mathura Sangha" and his line of spiritual preceptors as recorded by Prof. Hiralal is as follows:- "amitagati - santi- sena - amarasena- srisena candrakirti- amarakirti " He completed his work satka sompadesa in apabhramsa in "samvat 1247, bhadrapada masa, dvitiya (sukla ) paksa, 14 tithi, guruvara " when krsnanaremdra son of vamdiggadeva of the Calukya dynasty was reigning at Godhra in Gujarat. He wrote seven other works viz. (1) neminatha caritra, (2) mahavira caritra, (3) yasodhara caritra, (4) dharma caritra tippana, (5) subhasitaratnavidhi, (6) dharmopadesacudamani and ( 7 ) dhyanapradipa . I have verified the date of the as recorded by the author and find that it corresponds to Thursday, 16 th August 1190.' It would thus be seen that this namesake of our commentator flourished 400 years earlier. 1. Vide Indian Ephemeris, III, p. 383.