Vidyasagar was born on 10 October 1946 during the full moon festival (Sharad Purnima) in Sadalga, in the Belgaum district, of Karnataka in a Kannada-speaking Jain family.

[9] His father Mallappa, his mother Shrimati, and two sisters took diksha and joined the sangha (community of the pious) of Acharya Dharmasagar.

[10] All of his brothers, Anantanath, Shantinath and Mahavir Ashtage followed him and were initiated by Acharya Vidyasagar as Muni Yog Sagar.

[13] The Acharya did not eat salt, sugar, fruits, milk, oil, ghee, in addition to what is traditionally prohibited (root vegetable and Panchudambar fal).

[citation needed] As a traditional Digambara Jain monk, Acharya Vidyasagar never stayed in a single location for more than a few days, except for the four months of the rainy season (Chaturmas).

[27] On 28 July 2016, he gave a religious speech (pravachana) in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly by invitation from Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

[28][29] He was also privately visited by American ambassador Kenneth Juster in 2018[30] and by French diplomat Alexandre Ziegler.

[31][32] Acharya Vidyasagar opened a chain of schools for girls under the name Pratibhasthali Gyanodaya Vidhyapeeth.

[33] On this occasion, commemorative columns (Swarna Kirti Stambha) were erected in Ajmer,[34][35] Rewa,[36] Sravanbelgola and other locations.

[37] Acharya VidyasagaraJi was a scholar of Sanskrit and Prakrit and knew several languages including Hindi, Kannada, Marathi and English.

[44] This has been translated into English by Lal Chandra Jain and was presented to Pratibha Patil, the President of India.

His death met with formal condolences from the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi who wrote: "He [Acharya Vidyasagar] will be remembered by the coming generations for his invaluable contributions to society, especially his efforts towards spiritual awakening among people, his work towards poverty alleviation, healthcare, education and more.

[61] A documentary titled Vidyoday, directed by Vidhi Kasliwal,[62] was released on 25 November 2018 by Landmark Films.