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CHAPTER XI
THE RAMAYANA VERSION OF ACARYA HEMACANDRA
(as found in his TRISASTI SALĀKĀ PURUŞA-CARITA)
1. HIS LIFE AND DATE
Hemacandra was born at Dhandhukā (District Ahmedabad), in 1089 A.D., as the son of a merchant. His parents were pious Jains. His mother handed over him to a monk Devacandra as a pupil while still in his early childhood. As a Jain teacher he spent the greater part of his life in the capital of Gujarat (called Patan). There, by royal favour. an honourable career as author and promoter of his faith lay open to the Suri. His first patron was the Caulukya King Jayasimha Siddharaja (1094-1143 A.D.). This king favoured literature, science and philosophy. He was a devout worshipper of Siva, and yet tolerant of other sects and religions. Hemacandra attracted his attention, and with a view to winning the king's sympathy for Jainism he made it his business to emphasize more specially the points of agreement between the Jainism and authoritative Brahmanical works. Jayasimha's successor was Kumarapaia who was originally also a devotee of Siva but was converted to Jainism by Hemacandra in 1159 A.D. After his conversion he tried to make Gujarat a model Jain State. He himself renounced the sport of hunting, and prohibited the slaughter of animals, the eating of meat, drinking of wine and the like. He erected Jain temples and favoured literary and scientific efforts of the Jains. During the reign of these two patron-kings Hemacandra enjoyed a period of intense literary activity. He died in 1172 A.D. at the age of 83 years.
2. HIS WORKS
He was indeed one of the most versatile and prolific writers both as a poet and a scholar. It is due to him that Gujarat became a main strong-hold of the Svetambara Jains and has remained so for centuries and that Jain literature flourished there particularly in the 12th and 13th centuries. He has a place of honour in general Sanskrit literature as a compiler of useful and important works on grammar, lexicography. poetics and metrics. His learned books are not distinguished by any great originality: they rather display a truly encyclopaedic erudition and an enormous amount of reading besides a practical sense which makes them very useful. On account of the astounding many-sidedness of his literary achievements he earned from his co-religionists the title Kalikala-sarvajňa "The Omniscient of the Kali Age".
