Life of Hemchandracharya

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

Page 58

CHAPTER VI.-HEMACANDRA'S ACCOUNT OF KUMĀRAPĀLA'S CONVERSION 39. Jinamaņdana's story, which relates that Rājācārya Devabodhi, the spiritual instructor of the king, champions the old religion, may have an historical basis despite the fact that the story in its present setting is purely mythical." The event most probably did not take place without a hard fight. Without doubt, the already mentioned Yogas'āstra particularly played a very essential part in keeping Kumārapāla firm in his new faith, as is mentioned in the Prabandhas.79 Hemacandra wrote it under order of his lord.80 In the concluding stanza of the work, XII, 55, it is said:
"This secret doctrine of Yoga, which-a part here and a part there-has been learnt from the holy scriptures, from the mouth of a good teacher and from one's own experience and which rouses wonder in the minds of the competent public, has been dressed in words by the teacher Hemacandra as a result of the earnest request of the illustrious Caulukya king Kumārapāla.”
The same thing is expressed in the two stanzas at the end of the commentary, which immediately follow the above onos.
1. "Owing to the request which the illustrious Caulukya king made to me, I wrote this commentary on the Manual of Yoga-so named by me-an ocean of the Nectar of Truth. May it enjoy its existence) so long as these three worlds-Earth, Aim and Heaven-possess the Jaina-doctrine."
2. "Through the merit which I attained by the Manual of Yoga and its exposition, may the good man be induced to win for himself the enlightenment of Jina."
Also in the colophon to each of the twelve Praktīs'as, each time is it mentioned that Kumārapāla wished to hear the work and that it was "crowned” (samjātapattabandha), that is, it received the royal approbation. The first four chapters, already published, which form more than three-fourths of the whole, give a short resumé of the Jaina-doctrine, particularly as it affects the position of layman, and the very extensive commentary enlarges the same to the most lucid and comprehensible exposition of the system which has ever been written. The author clearly indicates that this part is written with a view to instructing his lord for, in the commentary, he often particularly and exhaustively dwells upon the duties of a Jaina king. The last eight Prakās'as deal with the actual Yoga, the ascetic practices which lead finally to mukti or, deliverance. The exposition of this part, after which the work is in fact named, is very short and only occupies something like a tenth of the whole Vrtti. It is remarkable that a very long description of those practiees precedes the Jaina-Yoga, which, in the author's own words, are useless for attaining mukti, but which afford, on the contrary, a peep into the future and grant supernatural powers. It appears that Hemacandra also believed in their efficacy and perhaps devoted himself to them. If he finds so much place as one long chapter for their description, it must have been in consideration of the excessive love of the king for the Yoga-praxis about which he relates in the commentary on X11,55. The Vilarāgastotra which was similarly composed for Kumārapāla, perhaps even earlier than the Yogas'āstra,