Jainism in Gujarat

Author(s): Chimanlal Bhailal Sheth
Publisher: Godiji Jain Temple Mumbai

Page 44

36
of Siddharaja's court We shall, therefore, study his life in detail
Hemasuri was born in Dhandhukapura, modern Dhandhukā in the Ahmedabad District in V. S. 1145 (A. D 1088-9) on a full-moon night in Kartika. His father's name was Chachcha and mother's name Pahini. Before Hemasuri entered the order of Jain monks, he was known as Changadeva,
According to the Kumarapalapratībodha, Devasuri once came to Dhandhuka and delivered a stirring sermon. Changadeva, being moved by it, begged that he might be taken in the order of monks. When the suri inquired about his name and parentage, his maternal uncle Nemināga stood up and said that he was the son of Chachcha and Chahini. He (Neminaga), moreover, requested the suri to get permission from Chachcha for Changadeva's consecration and persuaded his brother-in-law to consent to the boy's renunciation, but Chachcha, on account of the
1. The earliest writers Somaprabha and Prabhachandra say that Chachcha was Hemasuri's father Merutunga, Rajasekhara and Charitrasundara give the name Chachiga. Jinamandana sometimes gives the name Chachika Somaprabha gives Pahini instead of Chahini, as mother's name.