Life of Hemchandracharya

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

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LIFE OF HEMACANDRA
Since the year 1856, when the Ras Mala appeared, the systematic research carried on in the Jaina-Libraries in Western India has brought to light a large mass of new material for the life of Hemacandra. On the one hand, numerous works, such as Prabhavakacaritra, Prabandhakos'a, Commentaries on the Raimandalastotra, and a number of Kumarapalacaritas or Kumdrarāsas have been discovered which deat more or less in detail with the life of this 'spiritual head of the Kaliyuga'; on the other hand, Hemacandra's own works, probably all of them and almost in complete form, are now accessible, It is therefore now possible to examine critically the information obtained through the secondary sources by comparing them with one another and with Hemacandra's own utterances-these are, alas! very rare-about his person and life-experiences. The character of these secondary sources, as well as the fact that the greater number of them were written long after Hemacandra's time and that they belong to the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, renders it unnecessary to consider them collectively. A selection is quite. sufficient, as the later authors for the most part only copy what their predecessors wrote.
2
For the following research I have used:
1. The Prabhavakacaritra, a collection of life-sketches of 22 Jaina Acaryas, who bestowed glory on thier faith; it was written about 1250, about 80 years after Hemacandra's death, by Prabhäcandra and Pradyumnasûri."
2. The Prabandhacintamani by Merutungacarya of Vardhamanapura or Vadhavan in Kathiavaḍ: a collection of historical legends, completed on the full-moon day of the Vaisakha month, Vikrama Samvat 1362, that is, in April-May 1305 or 1306 A.D.*
8. The Prabandhakosa by Rajasekhara: a collection of the biographies of famous monks, poets and statesmen completed in Dhilli or Delhi, Vikrama Samvat 1405, i. e. 1348-49 A. D.3
4. The Kumarapalacarita by Jinamaṇḍana Upadhyaya, a life-story of the King Kumarapala of Gujarat V. S. 1199-1230, completed in Vikrama Samvat 1492, i. e. 1435-6 A. D.
The relationship of these works with one another is as follows: The Prabhavakacaritra and the Prabandhacintamani represent two distinct-and apparently independent of each other-currents of tradition. They diverge very often and, as regards some parts, they do so in many important points; the older work gives us in some cases less trustworthy data. The author of the Prabandhakosa knows the Prabandhacintamani and regards his own account of Hemacandra as an appendix to the same. He says he will not repeat what is said in that work (Prabandhacintamani); he will, on the contrary, acquaint his readers with a number of unknown anecdotes. The material put forth by him is, it is true, generally not to be found in earlier works and appears to have been adapted from tradition to which he so often refers. Lastly, the Kumarapalacarita is a loose compilation from the three first-named and from several other similar works. Here and there, contradictory accounts of the Prabhavakacaritra and of the Prabandhacintamani