Born as Jasha in the village of Kanoda in north Gujarat, Yashovijaya impressed the monk Nayavijaya as a boy by reciting the Bhaktamara Stotra from memory, and took initiation under him. His teachers sent him to Varanasi, where he studied for years with brahmin pandits and mastered the new school of logic, Navya-Nyaya. Tradition says the pandits there gave him the title Nyayavisharada, 'expert in logic', after he won a public debate.
He was an upadhyaya, the monk entrusted with teaching the scriptures, one rank below an acharya among the five supreme beings honoured in the Navkar Mantra; Jains lovingly call him Mahopadhyaya. He wrote in Sanskrit, Prakrit and old Gujarati: rigorous works of logic, guides to the inner life such as the Adhyatmasara and Jnanasara, and simple devotional songs still sung in temples. He passed away at Dabhoi in Gujarat, where his memorial shrine stands.
