Somadeva Suri

Not to be confused with Somadeva.

Mukund Lath Somadeva Suri was a south Indian Jain monk of the 10th century AD (fl. 959-66, possibly born in Bengal about 920), author of a work known as Upasakadyayana "chapter on lay followers (upasakas)", a central work of Digambara shravakacara literature, i.e. instructions and prescriptions for shravakas or Jain followers.

Somadeva Suri also wrote the Nitivakyamrtam " Nectar of the Science of Polity" (ed. Sundaralala Sastri 1976, Menta 1987), a treatise on statecraft. The text of the Nitivakyamrtam mentions that Somadeva was also the author of a literary work called Yashastilaka, now lost.

References

• Michael Carrithers, Caroline Humphrey, The Assembly of listeners: Jains in society, Cambridge University Press, 1991, ISBN 9780521365055, chapter 3.