Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 2

Author(s): Hemchandracharya, Helen M Johnson
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra

Page 23

INTRODUCTION
The second book of the Trişastiśalākāpuruşacaritra, like the first one, includes the biographies of one Tīrthankara, Ajitanātha, and one Cakravartin, Sagara. The event of importance that occurs also in the Hindu Epic is the destruction of the 60,000 sons of Sagara, described in the sixth chapter. Hemacandra's version differs markedly from that of the Mahābhārata (3. 106-109). Presumably the horse-sacrifice would not appear in a Jain account. Fick, in his “Eine jainistische Bearbeitung der SagaraSaga” discusses Devendra's version in his tīkā to the Uttarādhyāyanasūtra. Hemacandra follows Devendra generally, though some details differ..
The third book consists of eight chapters, each a separate biography, which do not introduce much in the way of fiction or incidental narrative. In the Sumatināthacaritra there is an example of the 'Solomon's judgment' motif. Four other Jain versions have been discussed by Tessitori in the Indian Antiquary (42, pp. 148ff.). Hemacandra follows Malayagiri in his commentary to the Nandisūtra.