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INTRODUCTION
XXV
1914
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युत्तरषष्टिशलाका नरेशव्रतगृहिव्रतविचारे । अध्यात्मयोगशास्त्रं विदधे जगदुपकृतिविधित्सुः ॥ ३ ॥ लक्षणसाहित्यगुणं विदधे च द्याश्रयं महाकाव्यम् । चक्रे विंशतिमुच्चैः स वीतरागस्तवानां च ॥ ४ ॥ इति तद्विहितग्रन्थसंख्यैव हि न विद्यते ।
नामापि न विदन्त्येषां मादृशा मन्दबुद्धयः ॥५॥ Many of the works of Hemacandra are however in imitation of similar works of other writers; yet in each of them there is something new. For instance, his work, SiddhaHema-Śabdānušāsana is written mainly on the lines of Pāṇini's grammar, but Hemacandra adds sections on Prakrit and Apabhramsa dialects which to this day stands as a standard and exhaustive work on the subject. His Desināmamālā is similarly the standard lexicon of Prakrit words. His Chandonuaägana, a treatise on metrics deals
exhaustively with Prakrit and Apabhramsa metres. His · works on poetics, Kāvyānusāsana and Alamkāracūdāmaņi have similarly a touch of originality here and there. His works on Jain philosophy and mythology such as Pramānamimãñgā, Yogaśāstra, Trişastiśalā kāpuruşacarita are also important. He wrote twenty devotional songs called Virastutis including Ayogavyavacchedikā and Anyayogavyavacchedikā. Of these, works of a general nature were composed during the reign of Siddharāja and those of a religious nature were composed during the reign of Kumārapāla. Hemacandra died at the mature age of 84 in Samvat 1229, i. e., 1172 A.D., only six months before Kumārapāla. The King was very much afflicted at the death of his spiritual teacher, and it is said, abandoned all care for worldly affairs and spent time in deep and devout meditation till death.
[ Sources on the life of Hemacandra:-Introductions to (1) Kumārapālapratibodha, GOS, (2) Moharājaparājaya, GOS. (3) Pramānamimānsā, AMP. (4) Syādvāda
