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Introduction
CCLXV
listen attentively, for a moment, to what I say." Then Băhada narrates the life-story of Hemachandra up to the time he is introduced to the king, beginning with the history of the Pūrņatallagachchha to which Hemachandra belonged. This dramatic occasion has been regarded by the later prabandha-writers and even modern scholars, drawing upon them, as historical. An inference is made from this that this was the first occasion when Hemachandra was introduced to Kumărapāla. However it appears to me, that this prologue is purely imaginary created by the author to give a poetic touch to his narration.
The minister Bāhada, after narrating the history of Purņatalla gachchha, informs us that Devachandra sūri – the author of the Thana-vịtti and the Saņtijiņakathā comes to Dhandhuka in course of his usual itinerary. After Devachandra had finished his sermon a handsome looking boy who was hearing the sermon approaches him and requests him to help him cross this ocean of the world by giving him a boat in the form of Suchāritra (that is by making him a monk).' The guru asks the boy his and his father's names. Nemi-the maternal uncle of the boy-who was present there, gives the guru some information about the boy and his parents.
He says: “Here, (i. e. in Dhandhukka ) lives a prominent merchant of the name of Chachcha who worships (his ) god and preceptors. He has a wife named Chāhiņī wbo is my sister. This boy is their son. His name is Changadeva. * In these days, the
* After this, the dream that Chāhinī dreamt when this boy was conceived is narrated. This shows that Hemachandra was becoming a legendary figure in a work completed 12 years after his death, Chachcha belonged to the Modha community,
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