Virasena

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Indian English Template:Infobox religious biography Template:Jainism Acharya Virasena (750–825CE),Template:Sfn also spelt as Veerasena, was a Jain monk and belonged to the lineage of Acharya Kundakunda.<ref name="Indranandi" /> He was an Indian mathematician and Jain philosopher and scholar of Digambar sect. He was also known as a famous orator and an accomplished poet.<ref name="Jinasena" /> He is renowned for his work on the monumental Jain commentary series on the ''Shatkhandagama'', known as the ''Dhavala'' texts.<ref>Satkhandagama : Dhavala (Jivasthana) Satparupana-I (Enunciation of Existence-I) An English Translation of Part 1 of the Dhavala Commentary on the Satkhandagama of Acarya Pushpadanta & Bhutabali Dhavala commentary by Acarya Virasena English tr. by Prof. Nandlal Jain, Ed. by Prof. Ashok Jain Template:ISBN</ref> The late Dr. Hiralal Jain places the completion of this treatise in 816.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He played a critical role in the development of Digambara scholasticism and is considered one of the greatest Jain scholars of early medieval India.

Virasena was a noted mathematician. He gave the derivation of the volume of a frustum by a sort of infinite procedure. He worked with the concept of ardhachheda: the number of times a number can be divided by 2. This coincides with the binary logarithm when applied to powers of two, but gives the 2-adic order rather than the logarithm for other integers.<ref>See, e.g., Template:Citation.</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Virasena gave the approximate formula C = 3d + (16d+16)/113 to relate the circumference of a circle, C, to its diameter, d. For large values of d, this gives the approximation π ≈ 355/113 = 3.14159292..., which is more accurate than the approximation π ≈ 3.1416 given by Aryabhata in the Aryabhatiya.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Life

Virasena was a disciple of the Jain acharya Aryanandi and flourished during the Rashtrakuta King Dhruva Dharavarsha and Govinda III.<ref name="jaini1979">Jaini, Padmanabh S. The Jaina Path of Purification. University of California Press, 1979, p. 118.</ref> He was based in the Deccan region and attracted several prominent disciples, including Jinasena I and Gunasena, later known as Jinasena II.<ref name="upadhye">Upadhye, A.N. “Virasena and the Dhavala Tradition.” In Studies in Jaina History and Culture, ed. P.S. Jaini, Motilal Banarsidass, 1999.</ref>

Virasena was proficient in astrology, grammar, logic, mathematics and prosody. He wrote Dhavala, a commentary on Jain canon Shatakhandagama. He also started the work on Jayadhavalaa which was completed by his disciples. He was among the jewels of Rashtrakuta Emperor Dhruva dharavarsha and Govinda III, it is also says that he also present at the time of Amoghavarsha.Template:Sfn

His lineage started with Chandrasena who initiated Aryanandi.Template:Sfn Aryanandi initiated Virasena and Jayasena.Template:Sfn Virasena initiated six disciples who were Dasharayguru, Jinasena, Vinayasena, Shripal, Padmasena and Devasena.Template:Sfn Dasharayguru and Jinasena initiated Gunabhadra who later initiated Lokasena.Template:Sfn Vinayasena initiated Kumarasena who started the Kashtha Sangha.Template:Sfn

Works

Dhavala and Related Texts

Virasena is primarily known for initiating the commentary project on the Shatkhandagama, one of the most revered canonical texts in Digambara Jainism. This massive commentary is collectively referred to as the Dhavala series, and it includes:

•⁠ ⁠Dhavala

•⁠ ⁠Jayadhavala

•⁠ ⁠Mahadhavala

While Virasena began the Dhavala, he was unable to complete it in his lifetime. The work was carried forward by his disciples Jinasena II (Gunasena) and others.<ref name="cort2010">Cort, John E. Framing the Jina: Narratives of Icons and Idols in Jain History. Oxford University Press, 2010, pp. 115–116.</ref>

These texts are not only commentaries but also rich repositories of Jain philosophy, cosmology, and metaphysics.

Contributions to Mathematics

Virasena is also credited with contributions to Jain mathematics and logic. He was among the early thinkers to use concepts of infinitesimals and logarithmic reasoning, although in a proto-mathematical form embedded in religious cosmology.<ref>Dundas, Paul. The Jains. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2002, p. 93.</ref>

Disciples

Virasena mentored several disciples who carried forward his intellectual legacy: •⁠ ⁠Jinasena: Author of the Adi Purana, an epic Jain text on Rishabhanatha and Bharata. •⁠ ⁠Gunasena (Jinasena II): Successor of Jinasena I, and co-author of the Dhavala commentary series.

Legacy

Acharya Virasena is revered as a pioneering figure in the Digambara tradition for his scholarship and rigorous analysis of Jain doctrine. His contributions to Jain literature and mathematics mark him as a significant figure in early medieval Indian intellectual history. The Dhavala series continues to be studied by Jain scholars and remains a cornerstone of Digambara exegesis.

See also

• Indian mathematics
• Umaswami
• Hemachandra
• Shatkhandagama
• Jainism in Karnataka
• Rashtrakuta literature

Bibliography

• Template:Citation
• Template:Citation
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• ⁠Cort, John E. Framing the Jina: Narratives of Icons and Idols in Jain History. Oxford University Press, 2010. ISBN 9780195385021.
• ⁠ Dundas, Paul. The Jains. 2nd ed., Routledge, 2002. ISBN 9780415305940.
• ⁠Jaini, Padmanabh S. The Jaina Path of Purification. University of California Press, 1979. ISBN 9780520039944.
• ⁠Upadhye, A.N. “Virasena and the Dhavala Tradition.” In Studies in Jaina History and Culture, ed. P.S. Jaini, Motilal Banarsidass, 1999.

External links

• Template:Commons category-inline
• Template:Cite web Translation of part of the Dhavala.