Life of Hemchandracharya

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

Page 31

CHAPTER II
Hemacandra and Jayasimha-Siddharāja
The sources speak nothing about Hemacandra's life during the time which immediately followed his ordination as a Sūri. They jump over a long series of years and resume only with his migration to Anahillapātaka or Pattana, the modern Anhilvād. Pāțan, the Capital of Gujarat, where he lived, as the Prabandhas expressly and apologetically state, the great part of his life. There, by royal favour, an honourable career as author and promoter of his faith lay open to the Súri. His first patron was the Caulukya king Jayasimha, designated Siddharāja, who had ascended the throne in the year 1150 of the Vikrama era and who ruled over Gujarat and the adjoining provinces of the western India until the Vikrama year 1199. According to all documents, Jayasimha was one of the most energetic and ambitious kings of the Caulukya-dynasty, He extended his kingdom as well towards the east as towards the west. Amongst his successful, warlike undertakings, special mention is frequently made in the Prabandhas, as well as in inscriptions, of his conquest of Surāştrā or Sorath in the south of Kāțbiāvād and of the occupation of Ujjain, which resulted in the arrest of the king Yas'ovarman and the annexation, at least for the time being, of the western Mālvā. He is equally famous for his public buildings and the construction of huge lakes in Pāțan, Siddhapur, Kapadvanj, Virangām and other cities. These lakes are still partly preserved. According to the Prabandhas, he was a friend of belles-lettres and entertained an earnest desire of seeing his achievements immortalised by a great poet. He therefore patronised the bards and poets and kept a poet laureate, Kavis'vara Sripāla who, though an author of various poetic works, does not seem to have been really able to tackle satisfactorily the task entrusted to him by his patron. The same sources speak also about Jayasimha's pursuit of philosophy. Although he was a Sivaite like his forefathers and, according to some stories, rigidly maintained the privileges of the Brahmanical faith, it is however reported that he, being eager to obtain complete deliverance from the fetters of rebirth, summoned from all countries teachers of various sects whom he questioned on Truth and God and the Holy Law, and had them discuss these points in his presence. Hemacandra confirms these statements in the Prasasti to his Grammar (Note 33, verse 18, 22), where he speaks of Jayasimha's ascetic propensities, and in the Dvyās'rayakāvya, in which mention is made of the establishment of schools where Dialectics, Astronomy and the Purāṇas were taught (see Note 28).