Prolegomena to Prakritica et Jainica

SR No.: 011088
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Asiatic Society
Total Pages: 248
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

Page 196

BANERJEE : THOUGHTS IN HEMACANDRA
179
VI. On Yoga :
14. Yogaśāstra VII. On Mahākāvya : 15. Kumārapālacarita, also called Dvyāśraya
kāvya VIII. On the lives of Great Men :
16. Tri-şaşți-salākā-pusuşa-carita
17. Parišiştaparva or Sthavirāvalī-carita IX. On Miscellaneous topics :
18. Vibhrama-sútra (?) 19. Jaina Rāmāyaṇa 20. Vītarāga-stotra (on Mahāvīra) 21. Anya-yoga-vyavaccheda-dvātrimśikā
22. Laghvarhan-nitiśāstra (?) "The above mentioned works of Hemacandra may not be distinguished by any great originality, but they display a truly encyclopaedic erudition and an enormous amount of reading, besides a practical sense which makes them very useful.” Hemacandra has not written any book on historical events, except the Kumārapālacarita which describes the history of the Chaulukya of Anhilvād with particular reference to Kumārapāla, his great patron. It is proved by C.R. Jain (the Jaina Gazette, January, 1935, pp. 9ff) on the authority of the Puran Chand Nahar, that the Arhannīti is a work of the 19th century, and not by Hemacandra himself. It will, therefore, be difficult to elicit the socio-political thoughts of Hemacandra from this work. But while describing the kings and the country, some of the epithets of kings and some of the words used for describing the country give us clue to frame our ideas about the socio-political thoughts of Hemacandra.
It is generally, assumed that the historical gleanings which Hemacandra has recorded in his works, mainly in the Kumārapālacarita, otherwise known as Duyāśrayakävya, is the mediaeval history of Gujarāt. From the
3. Winternitz, Foreword to Bühler's Life of Hemacandra, p. xv.