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BANERJEE : THOUGHTS IN HEMACANDRA
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documents. And at the same time, the secondary sources are also consulted for checking the primary documents.
Hemacandra was born in 1088 A.D. at Dhandahukā, a town in the neighbourhood of Ahmedabad, as the son of a merchant. He was born in the atmosphere of a pious Jaina family and from his childhood, it was observed that he was destined to be monk. As a Jaina teacher he spent most of his life in the capital of Gujarāt which was Anahillavāda Pațţaņa (modern Patan). At that time, Siddharāja Jayasimha (1094-1143 A.D.) was the ruler of Gujarāt. Hemacandra's literary activities started at the inspiration of Siddharāja Jayasimha, who after his war with Mālvā, became jealous of the literary glory of Ujjayinī, and asked Hemacandra to write a grammar and some literary works. Hemacandra wrote a book on grammar and dedicated it to the king, and hence the name was Siddha-Hemacandra'. He also wrote a Mahākāvya, called Kumārapālacarita, also called Duyāśrayakāvya, where he celebrated the glory of his two patronsSiddharāja (1094-1143 A.D.) and Kumārapāla (1143-1174 A.D.), in Sanskrit and Prakrit. Somaprabhācārya (2nd half of 12th century A.D.), a junior contemporary with Hemacandra, has nicely described the literary achievements of Hemacandra in the following verse :
kįptaň vyākarañań navař viracitaṁ chando navam, dvyāśrayālaňkārau prathitau navau prakatitam śrīyogaśāstras navam/ tarkaḥ sañjanito navo jinavarādināṁ caritraṁ navam baddham yena na kena kena vidhină mohaḥ krto dūrataḥ?.
"He composed a new grammar (i.e. the SiddhaHemacandra), a new science of metrics (the Chandonusāsana), the Dvyāśraya-kāvya and the Alamkāra-śāstra (i.e. the Kāvyānuśāsana), a new Yogaśāstra, 1. B.J. Sandesara, Literary Circle etc. p.11. 2. Ibid., p. 11.
