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COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF JAINISM
of Jayasimha Siddharāja, but his other great works were composed during the rule of his royal disciple, Kumāra pāla.
In the colophon of his famous Trishashțiśalakāpurushacaritra (henceforth called TŚC), composed during the later period of the reign of Kumārapāla, Hemacandra himself gives some idea about the chronology of his works. Accor. ding to his own statement, his famous work Siddha-Hema, also called Saldanuśāsana was composed at the request of Jayasimha. Then he composed the Yogaśāstra, the Dvyāšrāya (both Prakrit and Sanskrit), the works on the Chandas, Alamkāra, Namasangraha and lastly the TŚC, all during the time of Kumătapāla. It therefore appears that this great work on grammar was the only book, which he wrote during the time of the celebrated Jayasimha, i.e. before 1143 A.D.
The sabdanušāsana78, consists of eight chapters, and each chapter has four pādas and the total number of Sūtras in +685, of which 3566 describe the Sanskrit language and the rest of the Sūtras deal with the Prakrit dialects. The Master himself wrote two separate commentaries on these Sūtras, called the Laghuvștti76, and the Brhadvrtti??. He also supplemented them with his Dhātupārāyaṇa78, with his own commentary, Uņādi?), with his own commentary and the Lingānušāsanas o, with a Brhat-ţika. He also wrote a Brhannyāsa on his own grammar, a fragment of which has been discovered81.
Hemacandra's grammar is not only a work of profound learning, but it is, at the same time, a very practical and easy grammar for the students of the Sanskrit language. It may not be an original work on this subject, but it is the most useful work on the Sanskrit grammar, ever written, According to Kielhorn, it is "the best grammar of the Indian middle ages”. The 8th chapter of his Siddha Hema is devoted to the Prakrit grammar and it is undoubtedly, as Winternitzes, says, the most important grammar of the Prakrit dialect.
