Life of Hemchandracharya

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

Page 25

CHAPTER II
Hemacandra's Youth Hemacandra's birthplace was, according to all accounts, Dhandhukā, a town which was very important in former times and is even now not insignificant. It belongs to the district of Ahmedabad and lies just on the frontier between the main land of Gujarat and the peninsula of Kāțhiāvād. There, in 1145 V.S., he was born on the full-moon night of the month of Kārttika, that is, in November December, 1088 or 1089 A. D.10 His parents, Cāciga and Pāhini, belonged to the merchant (Vāniū) caste; in particular to that sub-caste which is known as Srimodh Vāņiās," so called because this sub-caste originally came from Modherā. Both the parents adhered to the doctrine of Jina. Pāhini distinguished herself through her special zeal for the faith and was moved by her piety to hand over her son whose worldly name was Cāngadeva or Cangadeva," to a monk named Devacandra as a pupil while still in his early childhood, and thus dedicated him to the spiritual order. The detailed circumstances which led Cāngadeva enter the order of the Yatis, are variously described and all the stories are more or less romantically adorned. The Prabhāvakacaritra gives only a short account. Pāhini, so it says, once dreamed that she had presented the Cintamani (the stone that fulfils all wishes) to her spiritual adviser. She related her dream to the monk Devacandra who gave her an explanation that she would bear a son who "would resemble the Kaustubha-jewel of the ocean of the Jainadoctrine.” When Cāngadeva was five years old, he accompanied his mother to the temple and sat on the seating-cushion of Devacandra while she was performing her worship. The monk reminded her of the dream and bade her entrust the boy to him as his pupil. Pāhini referred him first to the child's father. As Devacandra kept silence over this, she fulfilled his wish, though unwillingly, "because she remembered the dream and because the word of the Teacher must not be disregarded." Thereupon, Devacandra took the boy with him to Stambhatirtha, the present-day Cambay. There he was first consecrated in the temple of Pārsvanātha on Saturday, the fourteenth day of the bright half of the month Māgha of the Vikrama-year 1150. On this occasion, the famous' Udayana held the usual festival. Cãngadeva received the name Somacandra.