Jinabhadra lived in western India in the 6th and early 7th centuries, when Valabhi was a great centre of learning under the Maitraka kings. A copy of his main work is recorded as having been kept at Valabhi in 609 CE. Tradition also says he worked at Mathura to restore the damaged text of the Mahanishitha Sutra. He bore the title Kshamashramana, 'monk of forbearance', given to the most learned teachers of that age.
His Visheshavashyaka Bhashya takes the short text on the six essential duties (Avashyaka) and expands it into thousands of Prakrit verses on knowledge, karma, the soul and the nayas. Its section on the doubts of the eleven ganadharas, answered by Mahavira, is still widely read. Jinabhadra upheld the Agamic view that an omniscient being's knowing and seeing occur in sequence, respectfully disagreeing with Siddhasena Divakara. Later teachers simply called him the Bhashyakara.
