Life of Hemchandracharya

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

Page 32

CHAPTER III.-HEMACANDRA AND JAYASIMHA-SIDDHARĀJA
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It is easily comprehensible that even a Jaina monk who had a thorough knowledge of Sanskrit-literature and the Brahmanical sciences as well as proficiency in the poetic art, could win the favour of a king of this kind. The sources are not, however, at one as to the art and manner in which Hemacandra came to be introduced to Jayasimha. According to the Prabhavakacaritra, by an accidental meeting he became acquainted with the king and by a clever exploitation of the opportunity thus offered, he got entry into the palace. Once, so it is said, Siddharaja passed through the streets of his capital riding on an elephant and saw Hemacandra standing by a shop near a slope. The king stopped his elephant just by the mound (timbaka) and called out to the monk: "Recite something" Hemacandra at once replied with a stanza composed on the spur of the moment: "Siddha, let the stately elephant jump freely without any hesitation! May the worldprotecting elephants tremble! What's the good of all of them? By thee alone is the world. guarded!" Jayasimha was pleased with this stanza so much that he invited the author to go to the palace daily at noon and to entertain him. Hemacandra accepted the invitation and gradually won the king's friendship. Jinamanḍana agrees with this story in the main. It appears, however, that he drew his material from some other source. For, the verse which he attributes to Hemacandra, has a different form and he attempts to ascribe the reason of the king's addressing Hemacandra to the astonishing appearance of the latter and to the king's amazement at the same." Merutunga mentions nothing of this meeting and its results. According to his report, Hemacandra became known to Jayasimha much later, just when he was returning from the victorious expedition against Mälva. On this occasion Jayasimha held, on entering the capital, a ceremonious procession in which Yasovarman, the captive king of Mälvä, and the rich spoils gathered in the war were triumphantly exhibited. The heads of various fellowships of faiths appeared among the deputations from Aphilväd, in accordance with the Indian custom, to shower their benedictions on the victorious king. Among the group of the Jainas was also Hemacandra who had been selected as a spokesman on account of his great learning. He paid homage to the king with these words: "Wish-fulfilling cow, besprinkle the earth with thy fluid! Ye, Oceans, scatter the svastika-figures of pearls! Moon, become thou a full bowl! Ye elephants-protectors of quarters of the globe, bring boughs of the heavenly tree, and unplait victory-garlands from them with your long trunks! For, does not the king Siddha, who has conquered the earth, come now?" This stanza that was "adorned with a com mentary", was praised by the king and brought its author great honour".
The Prabhavakacaritra (see Note 24) and Jinamandana similarly know this. story. They however surmise that Hemacandra only renewed his acquaintance with the king on his return from Mälvä and that he received a new invitation to the palace.
As regards the credibility of these statements, the second of them must certainly be historical. The stanza with which Hemacandra is supposed to have greeted the king, is authentic. For, it is found at the end of the twenty-fourth Pada of Hemacandra's Grammar which, as will be later on shown, contains thirty-five verses composed by the author in honour of the Caulukya kings. The last words, "For, does not the king Siddha, who has conquered the earth, come now ?", produce a good sense only if one takes that the sloka was composed, as the Prabandhas maintain, originally as an occasional poem in honour of a triumphal procession and later inserted into the Grammar. As regards the