Gyanvimalsuri
Acharya Gyanvimal Suri was a Śvetāmbara Mūrtipūjaka Jain monk and ācārya associated with the Tapa Gaccha. Sources place his birth in Vikram Samvat 1694 and his death in Vikram Samvat 1782.
Historical background
Gyanvimal Suri’s career is situated within the Tapāgaccha’s early modern period, during which multiple internal lineages and reform-oriented groupings were documented in gaccha histories and manuscript catalogues, including branches identified by later scholarship as the “Vimala” line within Tapāgaccha genealogical listings. Tapāgaccha historical writing also links his succession to later leaders of a “Vimala” branch, reflecting continued monastic organisation by guru–disciple lineages and pattadhara succession.Early life
A descriptive manuscript catalogue identifies his pre-monastic name as “Jagamala” and records his parents’ names as Ude and Dahi. A Tapāgaccha history gives his birth year as Vikram Samvat 1694.Monastic initiation
Tapāgaccha historical writing records his dīkṣā in Vikram Samvat 1702. The Bombay Branch Royal Asiatic Society manuscript catalogue identifies his initiating teacher as Acharya Dhiravimala Suri and records “Nayavimala” as his monastic name, which it treats as the same figure later known as Gyanvimal Suri.Education and training
According to the Bombay Branch manuscript catalogue, he studied under named teachers and subsequently received the honorific “Paṇḍita”. The same catalogue describes his literary activity across Prakrit and vernacular registers, and it preserves colophonic-style biographical information linked to these manuscript records.Ascension to Acharyaship
A Tapāgaccha history states that Gyanvimal Suri attained the rank of panyās and was later elevated to ācārya-status, with the ācārya installation dated to Vikram Samvat 1748–1749. The same work records his death in Vikram Samvat 1782.Monastic career
The Bombay Branch manuscript catalogue records that he died at Cambay and provides an age at death in the late eighties. Tapāgaccha historical writing also associates him with later epigraphic and institutional memory through references to his pādukā and mentions of a named successor in branch pattāvalī material.Works and intellectual contributions
Manuscript catalogues and Tapāgaccha histories attribute multiple works to Gyanvimal Suri, including dated compositions in Vikram Samvat 1725 and 1729 recorded in the Bombay Branch catalogue entry summarising his oeuvre. Tapāgaccha historical writing additionally lists him among Tapāgaccha authors and records his birth, initiation, elevation, and death years in connection with a discussion of his works.Catalogued manuscript holdings attribute specific titles to him, including a Siddhācala-stavana, listed under his name in the L. D. Institute of Indology manuscript catalogue. A further modern Hindi edition of Ānandghan’s Chovīsī notes that an ācārya named Gyanvimal Suri composed a balāvabodha on the text, dated there to Vikram Samvat 1826.