Life of Hemchandracharya

Author(s): Manilal Patel
Publisher: Singhi Jain Shastra Shiksha Pith Mumbai

Page 14

PREFACE BY THE GENERAL EDITOR
read this huge Jaina Epic by Hemacandra he could not properly appreciate the poetic gifts of the great Acarya. Dr. Bühler does not seem to have read carefully the Chandonus'asana of Hemacandra-a work on metrics-otherwise he would not have said that the work does not contain verses in praise of Siddharaja (p. 36). The Vratti has verses both in praise of Kumarapala as well as Siddharaja. Dr. Bühler's estimate of Hemacandra's grammar is also defective. He says-"The grammar does not, it is true, contain 125,000 Slokas, as Merutunga would have us believe. But including the commentaries and the appendices which, in their turn, have commentaries, it has something like 20,000 to 30,000 Slokas." (p. 18). There is enough evidence to support the opinion of Merutunga that the Siddha-Hema grammar consists of 125000 slokas. Hemacandra himself, wrote a Byhannyasa resembling the Mahabhasya of Patanjali. From older references we learn that this Nyasa alone consisted of 80-8:000 verses. Unfortunately a great part of this Nyasa appears to be lost. A few fragments of this Nyasa are, however, found in old Jaina Bhandaras. These alone amount to about 20000 to 25000 verses. The Satrapatha, the Laghutikd, the Brhafika, the Dhatupatha, the Unadipatha, the Linginusasana etc. of this grammar, which are mostly printed and published, consist of no less than fifty thousand slokas.
Dr. Bühler confuses the Pramanamimand of Hemaeandra with the Syadrada-mañjart which is in reality a commentary by Mallisena on the Angyoga vyaracchedadvätrinsiku-a hymn of 32 verses-by Hemeandra. This Pramāṇamimansa is incomplete. There is reason to believe that this was probably his last work,
Thus one finds that Dr. Bühler's account of the life of Hemacandra requires to be revised and corrected at several places in the light of new material. I cannot give here all such revisions and corrections with relevant evidence, for the fear that it might double the bulk of the volume. Again it is in the fitness of things that I should leave this study which has become a classic on the subject as it is.
XI
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My attention was first drawn to this learned study on the life of Hemacandra in the year 1915-16 when I was engaged in editing the Kumarapalapratibodha of Somaprabhacarya, by my late lamented friend Mr. C. D. Dalal the originator and the first editor of the G.O.S. As I did not then know German I had to wait for two years before I got the substance of it at Poona through a German-knowing friend of mine. I was so impressed with its importance as a contribution on the subject that I thought of getting it translated into English and published in a handy form. Incidentally Mr. Moticand G. Kapadia of Bombay, who also came to learn of the importance of this work, expressed his desire to defray the expenses of the translation work. I entrusted the work to Miss. Kohn who is quite at home in both German and English. This translation