The Jain 1988 07

Author(s): Natubhai Shah
Publisher: UK Jain Samaj Europe

Page 51

18
THE
=Jain.
larship is still strong.
The ceremony of diksa or initiation as a monk or nun is a great step in the life of a religious Jain. The rituals are carried out with the greatest solemnity and frequently with much ceremony. The aspirant solemnly takes the five great vows of Non-violence, Truthfulness. Not taking that which is not given, Celibacy and Renunciation of possessions. The hair of the head is plucked out (as it is recorded was done by Mahavira). It is a lifetime commitment to a life which needs the greatest determination and strength of will but brings, it is certain, great rewards.
Two Great Acharyas
1, Hemacandra Acharya 2, Vijay Vallabh Surishwarji
HEMACANDRA ACHARYA Among the great scholars of medieval Jainism the name of Hemacandra stands out. It is recorded that he was born on the full moon night of the month of Kartika in the year Vikram Samvat 1145, that is 1089 AD. (The Vikram era, commencing 57 years before the Christian era is the commonest Indian reckoning of dates: the beginning of the year is not the same as the Western New Year so the Christian date is not always exactly 57 years before the V.S. one). His father was a well-to-do businessman of Dhandhuka, a small town near Ahmedabad in Gujarat, of the Srimodh caste. (Of course a monk abandons these family labels when he enters the Order but Hemacandra's background is of historical interest). There are various stories about his entering the monastic life,
which occurred when he was a small child, perhaps no more than four years old, though more probably when he was a few years older. As so often happens with the famous, the details of their earlier life before fame reached them can be rather shadowy and often pious biographers can add imaginary accounts, often forecasting future distinction for a child who would have been far too young to show signs of it. Although regarded unfavourably nowadays, initiation in childhood into the monastic order was commonly practised then, and indeed up to recent times. Strictly speaking, no child is permitted to join the Order until the age of eight: the date 1098 for the young boy Cangadeva's (his original name) initiation, given in one of the (rather scanty) sources for his early life, seems probable. Cangadeva's mother was a Jain though his father probably was not: at any rate, it is recorded that his father was very hesitant about giving permission for his son to become a monk.
The monk's guru was called Devacandra, of the Purnatalla Gaccha. Hemacandra's original monastic name was Somacandra but it was the custom for a monk to be given a new name on achieving the monastic status of Suri, a monastic leader, This happened when Hemacandra was 21. We have very little futher information about his early years, though he seems to have spent much of his time at Cambay and after his early years in the Order he did not. travel outside Gujarat.