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श्रमण
Ācārya Hemacandra and Ardhamāgadhi
Prof. S.C. Pande
Ācārya Hemacandra is a remarkable figure in the history of Sanskrit literature. On account of his profound and wide reading and extraordinary talent he was credited with the title "Omniscient of the Kali Age" (afh405). He was a very respectable Jaina monk of the Śvetāmbara sect belonging to the Pūrņatallagaccha.' He was associated with Jayasimha Siddharāja and Kumārapāla, the two well known Caulukya kings of Gujarat of the 12th century A.D. Being a prolific writer his literary activity covered almost all the branches of Sanskrit learning like grammar, poetics, prosody, lexicography, poetry, logic, dialectics, yogaśāstra and narrative literature etc. Tradition credits him with the authorship of innumerable works.
Here is an attempt to discuss the views of Hemacandra about the importance of the Ardhamāgadhi and Sanskrit languages as expressed in the Siddha-Hemaśabdānuśāsana and the Kävyānuśāsana, the two important works on grammar and poetics. The chronological order of these two works in this context is important. Sabdānuśāsana the first work of Hemacandra was written at the royal request of the king Siddharāja and the Kāvyānuśāsana was written in the
पूज्याश्च इमे महाकवय: पूर्णतल्लगच्छीया: सूरयः। सत्तासमयश्चैषां विक्रमीयद्वादशशताब्द्या उत्तरार्ध त्रयोदशशताब्द्याश्च पूर्वार्धे सम्यगवबुध्यते ऐतिह्यप्रमाणेन। जन्मभूमिस्तु सौराष्ट्रगुर्जरजनपदयोः सन्धौ स्थितं धन्धूकाख्यं नगरम्। उत्पत्तिवंशस्तु बुद्धिवैभवप्रौढो मौढो वणिग्वंशः।-चरणविजयमुनि Preface of त्रिषष्टिशलाकापुरुषचरितम्।
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