Manatunga was a Jain Acharya — a senior monk who had taken the full vows and reached teaching authority within the sangha. We have no surviving biography from his own time. What we know comes from later traditions, which differ in their details — including his sectarian affiliation, claimed by both the Digambara and Shvetambara lineages. The library presents the 48-verse Digambara recension of the stotra.
What we do have is the Bhaktamara Stotra itself. Forty-eight verses of remarkable Sanskrit poetry, dense with imagery, technically masterful, devotionally profound. The kind of text that suggests deep training in classical Sanskrit poetics combined with deep meditative practice.
The famous legend — bound in 48 chains by a king, freed by 48 verses — comes from later sources and varies across traditions. Whether it is historical fact, devotional tradition, or sacred metaphor is something each reader can decide for themselves. What is undeniable: for over a thousand years, this stotra has been recited daily across the Digambara world, in unbroken living tradition.
When you read these verses, you are reading words that have been repeated continuously for at least 1300 years. Not in a museum. As living recitation. That itself is something.