Lilavai

SR No.: 002796
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1966
Total Pages: 500
Language: Sanskrit, Hindi, English
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 15 MB

Page 92

INTRODUCTION
65
Salivahana than to the poem Lilăvati, because no such context is found in it.
5) Hemacandra occupies a unique position in the realm of Prākrit studies on account of his treatises on Prākrit language, lexicography and metres. One salient trait of his compositions is that he thoroughly avails himself of the material from the works of his predecessors in the field at times anonymously and sometimes specifying the names of the authors or their works. He was born in 1088 and died in 1172 A. D. He composed his Alaṁkära-cudamani, Chandonusāsana and Desi namamālā during the
i of 1142 to 1157 A. D., and his grammar was finished even before 1142 A. D.
In his Alamkāra-cūdamaņi' on Kavyānuśāsana VIII. 8, he refers to the Lilavati in this manner :
धीरशान्तनायका गयेन पद्येन वा सर्वभाषा कथा । आख्यायिकावन्न स्वचरितव्यावर्णकोऽपि तु धीरशान्तो नायकः । तस्य तु वृत्तमन्येन कविना वा यत्र वर्ण्यते, FT (0.1.9) 2 BET ARĪT 27811 12att, tallar qara 2017 taratiti 917 (v. l. 1990) सर्वभाषा काचित्संस्कृतेन काचित्प्राकृतेन काचिन्मागध्या काचिच्छूरसेन्या काचित्पैशाच्या काचिदपभ्रंशेन बध्यते
period of 1142
In his Chandonuśāsana' he illustrates the use of short ě in Prakrit by quoting a gåthå which is the same as No. 1091 of this Lilavati: the necessary extract is quoted in the Notes on that gåthå.
Hemacandra's Prakrit grammar surpasses the earlier Prakrit grammars, so far known, by its thoroughness and wealth of illustrations. It is but natural that he must have used a large number of works, grammars, plays and poems; but unluckily he rarely specifies the sources of his illustrations. From the above discussion it is clear that Hemacandra knew and quoted from the Lilavati. Though there are no quotations from it in his grammar, one feels at every step that he might have drawn many illustrative words from it. The commentator repeatedly
1 Bühler: The Life of Hemacandrācārya, English Trans., Singhi Jaina Series,
Bombay 1936, pp. 36 ff. 2 Ed. Kavyamala 70, Bombay 1901, p. 338; R. C. Parikh, Bombay 1938, Vol. I,
p. 463. 3 Some have taken this to refer to the work of Jineśvarasüri, noted above, p. 28
f. (Intro. Surasundaricariyam, p. 28); but this suggestion can be ruled out, because Hemacandra, in that context, is only following Bhoja who could not
have referred to the work of Jineśvara. 4 Ed. Bombay 1912, p. la.
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