å ¨ri who †a)

The language of Indian religious polemic was often extremely fierce, but even by these standards Dharmasågara was an unusually dyspeptic controversialist. His main concern was to establish the centrality and uniqueness of the Tapå Gaccha and his writings are relentless exposures of what he saw as flaws in both the lives and doctrinal standpoints of other Jain teachers and the lineages which sprung from them. Indeed, some senior members of the Tapå Gaccha perceived Dharmasågara’s polemical tone as being so aggressive that attempts were made to suppress his writings and associate him with heresy. Disagreements over Dharmasågara continued within the Tapå Gaccha throughout the seventeenth century.79