Tradition says Siddhasena was a proud brahmin scholar who vowed to become the disciple of anyone who could defeat him in debate. He lost to the Jain monk Vriddhavadi and took initiation. His brilliance earned him the title Divakara, 'the sun'. Svetambara accounts add that when he proposed rendering the Prakrit scriptures into Sanskrit, his elders judged it disrespectful, and he accepted a long penance of exile, which tradition connects with Ujjain and a King Vikramaditya.
His Sanmati Tarka, written in Prakrit verse, explains how each true statement is a partial viewpoint (naya) and how these views fit together in anekantavada. He also argued that in an omniscient being, knowing and seeing are one. His thirty-two-verse hymns, the Dvatrimshikas, are poetry of rare power. Though a Svetambara monk, he is praised by Digambara authors such as Jinasena, and his logic is studied in both traditions.
