Jain Journal 1968 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 31

APRIL, 1966
179
describe Kumarapala and his beneficent rule, the next verse (52) describes the extent of his empire and the last six verses (53-58) describe the daily contact with Hemacandra This is merely a way of narrating and does not imply, as Dr Buehler believes, that Kumarapala got acquainted with Hemacandra after the greatest expansion of his empire If it implies any such thing, it would be only that their intimate contact ding honour daily to that monk' began after that 'greatest expansion of his empire It does not mean that their first acquaintance began at that time
Another argument of Dr Buehler that the Prabandhas t'i sugh mention early acquaintance do not describe the relationship of Hemacandra and Kumarapala immediately after the latter became king First, We cannot infer anything from the absence of mention, and secondly Kumarapala in the beginning of his reign was too busy subduing his internal and external enemies and consolidating and extending his empire to think of religiously meeting Hemacandra This, however, does not preclude the possibility of his early acquaintance and even occasional meeting after he got the throne On the contrary, it appears to me that one of the causes of Kumarapala's attachment to Hemacandra must have been the support he got, no doubt indirectly, from the monk through his rich and influential followers like Udayana and his son Vaghhata
Once, we are told, when Kumarapala happened to be in Stambhatirtha (Cambay), while he was a fugitive, his future king bup was forecast by Hemacandra in presence of Udayana who was then the governor of Stambhatirtha When Kumarapala could not believe in such an impossible future Hemacandra wrote down the exact date of his coronation and gave one copy to Kumarapala and another to Udayana for verification So we may very well believe that the fulfilment of Hemacandra's forecast was one of the events which made Kumarapala believe in the infallibility of Hemalandra
The Kumārapala-prabandha of Jinamandana mentions an earlier meeting of Kumarapala and Hemacandra "Once Sri Kumarapala went to Pattana to wait upon Sri Jayasimhadeva There he saw Hemacarya seated on a lion seat before the king He felt that this learned Jaina muni is being respected by the king it would be a meritorious thing to meet him' So Kumarapala went to the lecture-hall of Hemacarya and asked him which was the best virtue Hemacandra answered "To look upon the wives of other people as one's own sister is the king of virtues" and gave a sermon on chastity (pp 18-22)
If this meeting was at all historical, it must have been before Kumarapala was compelled to wander about for fear of his life, that is about VS 1169 (AD 1113)