Life of Hemchandracharya

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

Page 33

14.
LIFE OF HEMAGANDRA
story of the meeting in the bazar, it is not possible to be equally certain. In itself the story sounds a bold one. It is not improbable that an Indian prince, who took an interest in the art of poesy, should address a man whose outward appearance struck him, and should, as a reward for a graceful compliment, grant him access to the customary audiences of scholars and poets. It is however hard to comprehend how Jayasimha could presuppose a proficiency in poetry in a Jaina-monk who was unknown to him. The matter is made more suspicious by the fact that the stanza, which Hemacandra is supposed to have composed on this occasion, should be given in two different versions and that none of them should exist in the authentic works of Hemacandra. Finally, it is noteworthy that the Prabhavakacaritra should have nothing to report particularly about Hemacandra's inter. course with Jayasimha during the period between the first and the second meeting. Only Jinamandana relates a number of anecdotes regarding this intercourse. Even these aneodotes, according to other sources, fall into a later time. Under such circumstances the credibility of the first story is doubtful. Inspite of this, there are some reasons which make it probable that Hemacandra was introduced to the court of Jayasimha before the conquest of Mälvä. The expedition against Mälva, the date of which is not, with exactitude, given in any of the sources, must have taken place after the Vikrama year 1192, as, it is known, in the month of Magha of that year Prince Yadovarman who was conquered and taken prisoner by Jayasimha, made a grant of land, which proves that he still occupied the throne." Probably this expedition was undertaken acon after this date. For, Jayasimha himself died in the Vikrama year 1199, and it is evident from his biography in Hemacandra's Dvyasrayakāvya that he reigned for many years after his return from Malva. Now, if Hemacandra became first acquainted with Jayasirhha at the time of the latter's imposing triumphal entry, then it could not have happened before the Vikrama Samvat. 1194; in which case he could have had influence at the court of the king for about five years only. But that this influence lasted much longer than five years is clear from Merutunga's account of the famous debate held by the Svetämbara Devasüri and the Digambara Kumudeandra in the presence of Jayasimha. He describes" that, on this occasion the 'young' (fr) Hemscandra was present as a supporter of Devasuri and that he succeeded in winning the favour of the king's mother Mayapalladevi for his side. The Prabhavakacaritra, XXI, 195 gives as the exact date of the debate the full-moon day of the month Vaisakha, Vikrama Samvat 1181," while Merutunga allows the same to take place towards the end of Jayasihha's reign after the expedition against Malva. There can be no doubt that the statement of the Prabhavakacaritra deserves preference and that Merutunga took the liberty of a fanciful shifting of the date. The last-named fact is especially proved by the remark that Hemacandra was a young man at that time. Had the debate taken place towards the end of the ninetieth year, then Hemacandra should have been over fifty years of age. Under these circumstances, it cannot be denied that, even according to the sources which Merutunga used, the first acquaintance of Hemacandra with Jayasimha took place before the time of the war with Malva. This does not, however, prove that the story of the Prabhavakacaritra, about the first meeting of the both, tells the truth. Its internal improbability remains just as great ad before. The story might well have been invented as a historical setting to the famous verses of Hemacandra addressed to the king aftar the real facts leading to the former's introduction into the court of his lord had been forgotten. The facts may be sought in