Hemachandra () was a 12th century à ÂvetÃÂmbara Jaina ÃÂcÃÂrya, scholar, poet, mathematician, philosopher, yogi, , law theorist, historian, lexicographer, rhetorician, logician, and prosodist. Noted as a prodigy by his contemporaries, he gained the title kalikÃÂlasarvajña, "the knower of all knowledge in his times" and is also regarded as father of the Gujarati language.
Born as Caá¹ gadeva, he was ordained in the à ÂvetÃÂmbara school of Jainism in 1110 and took the name Somacandra. In 1125 he became an adviser to King KumÃÂrapÃÂla and wrote Arhannëti, a work on politics from Jaina perspective. He also produced Trià Âaá¹£á¹Âi-à ÂalÃÂkÃÂ-puruá¹£acarita (âÂÂDeeds of the 63 Illustrious MenâÂÂ), a Sanskrit epic poem on the history of important figures of Jainism. Later when he was consecrated as ÃÂcÃÂrya, his name was changed to Hemacandra.
Hemacandra was born in Dhandhuka, in present-day Gujarat, on Kartika Sud Purnima (the full moon day of KÃÂrtika month). His year of birth differs according to sources but 1088 is generally accepted. His father, CÃÂciga was a Moá¸Âha Bania. His mother, PÃÂhini, was a Jaina. Hemacandra's birth name was Caá¹ gadeva. In his childhood, the Jaina monk Devacandra Sà «ri visited Dhandhuka and was impressed by the young Hemacandra's intellect. His mother and maternal uncle concurred with Devachandra, in opposition to his father, that Hemacandra be a disciple of his. Devachandra took Hemacandra to Khambhat, where Hemacandra was placed under the care of the local governor Udayana. CÃÂciga came to Udayana's place to take his son back, but was so overwhelmed by the kind treatment he received, that he decided to willingly leave his son with Devachandra.
Some years later, Hemacandra was initiated a Jaina monk on Magha à Âukla Chaturthë (4th day of the bright half of Magha month) and was given a new name, Somacandra. Udayana helped Devacandra Suri in the ceremony. He was trained in religious discourse, philosophy, logic and grammar and became well versed in Jaina and nonâÂÂJaina scriptures. At the age of 21, he was ordained an acÃÂrya of the à ÂvÃÂtÃÂmbara school of Jainism at Nagaur in present-day Rajasthan. At this time, he was named Hemacandra Suri.
At the time, Gujarat was ruled by the Chaulukya dynasty from Aá¹ÂahilavÃÂda (Patan). It is not certain when Hemacandra visited Patan for the first time. As Jain monks are mendicants for eight months and stay at one place during Chaturmas, the four monsoon months, he started living at Patan during these periods and produced the majority of his works there.
Probably around 1125, he was introduced to Jayasiá¹Âha SiddharÃÂja (fl. 1092âÂÂ1141) and soon rose to prominence in the Caulukya royal court. According to the Prabhavakacarita of PrabhÃÂcandra, the earliest biography of Hemacandra, Jayasiá¹Âha spotted Hemacandra while passing through the streets of his capital. The king was impressed with an impromptu verse uttered by the young monk.
In 1135, when SiddharÃÂja conquered Malwa, he brought the manuscripts of Bhoja from Dharàaalong with other things. One day Siddhraja came across the manuscript of SarasvatiëKaná¹Âá¹ÂaÃÂbharaná¹ (also known as the Lakshana Prakash), a treatise on Sanskrit grammar. He was so impressed by it that he told the scholars in his court to produce a grammar that was as easy and lucid. Hemachandra requested Siddharaja to find the eight best grammatical treatises from Kashmir. He studied them and produced a new grammar work in the style of PÃÂá¹Âini's Aá¹£á¹ÂÃÂdhyÃÂyë. He named his work Siddha-Hema-à Âabdanuà ÂÃÂà Âana after himself and the king. Siddharaja was so pleased with the work that he ordered it to be placed on the back of an elephant and paraded through the streets of Aná¹ÂaiëwdvÃÂá¸ÂaPatan. Hemacandra also composed the Dvyasà Âaya KÃÂvya, an epic on the history of the Chaulukya dynasty, to illustrate his grammar.
According to the PrabhÃÂcandra, there was an incident where SiddharÃÂja wanted to kill his nephew KumarÃÂpala because it was prophesied that the kingdom would meet its demise at KumarapÃÂla's hands. Hemacandra hid KumarapÃÂla under a pile of manuscripts to save him. However, such motifs are common in Indian folk literature, so it is unlikely it was an actual historical event. Also, many sources differ on SiddharÃÂja's motives.
Hemacandra became the advisor to KumÃÂrapÃÂla. During Kumarapala's reign, Gujarat became a center of culture. Using the Jaina approach of Anekantavada, Hemacandra is said to have displayed a broad-minded attitude, which pleased KumÃÂrapÃÂla. KumÃÂrapÃÂla was a Shaiva and ordered the rebuilding of Somnath at Prabhas Patan. Some Hindu saints who were jealous of Hemacandra's rising popularity with the KumÃÂrapÃÂla complained that Hemacandra was a very arrogant person, that he did not respect the vedic deities and that he refused to bow down to Hindu God Shiva. When called upon to visit the temple on the inauguration with KumÃÂrapÃÂla, Hemacandra readily bowed before the lingam but said:
Ultimately, the king became a devoted follower of Hemacandra and a champion of Jainism.
Starting in 1121, Hemacandra was involved in the construction of the Jain temple at Taranga. His influence on KumÃÂrapÃÂla resulted in Jainism becoming the official religion of Gujarat and animal slaughter was banned in the state. The tradition of animal sacrifice in the name of religion was completely uprooted in Gujarat. As a result, even almost 900 years after Hemacandra, Gujarat still continues to be a predominantly lacto-vegetarian state, despite having an extensive coastline.
He announced about his death six months in advance and fasted in his last days, a Jaina practice called sallekhana. He died at Aá¹ÂahilavÃÂá¸Âa Patan. The year of death differs according to sources but 1173 is generally accepted.
A prodigious writer, Hemacandra wrote grammars of Sanskrit and Prakrit, poetry, prosody, lexicons, texts on science and logic and many branches of Indian philosophy.
His systematic exposition of the Jain path in the Yogaà ÂÃÂstra and its auto-commentary is a very influential text in Jain thought. According to Olle Quarnström it is "the most comprehensive treatise on à ÂvetÃÂmbara Jainism known to us".
The Siddha-Hema-à Âabdanuà ÂÃÂà Âana includes six languages: Sanskrit, the "standard" Prakrit (virtually MahÃÂrÃÂá¹£á¹Ârë PrÃÂkrit), à Âaurasenë, MÃÂgadhë, Paià ÂÃÂcë, the otherwise-unattested Cà «likÃÂpaià ÂÃÂcë and Apabhraá¹Âà Âa (virtually Gurjar Apabhraá¹Âà Âa, prevalent in the area of Gujarat and Rajasthan at that time and the precursor of Gujarati language). He gave a detailed grammar of Apabhraá¹Âà Âa and also illustrated it with the folk literature of the time for better understanding. It is the only known Apabhraá¹Âà Âa grammar. He wrote the grammar in form of rules, with 8 Adhyayas (Chapters) and its auto-commentraries namely â "TattvaprakÃÂà ÂikàBá¹Âhadvá¹Âtti" with "à ÂabdamahÃÂrá¹Âava NyÃÂsa" in one year. Jayasimha Siddharaja had installed the grammar work in Patan's (historically Aá¹ÂahilavÃÂá¸Âa) state library. Many copies were made of it, and many schemes were announced for the study of the grammar. Scholars like KÃÂkala KÃÂyastha were invited to teach it. Moreover, an annual public examination was organized on the day of JñÃÂna-pañcamë. Kielhorn regards this as best grammar of Indian middle ages.
In 1125, he became an adviser to KumÃÂrapÃÂla and wrote the Arhannëti, a work on politics from a Jain perspective.
To illustrate the grammar, he produced the epic poetry DvyÃÂà Âraya KÃÂvya on the history of Chaulukya dynasty. It is an important source of history of region of the time. The epic poem Triá¹£aá¹£á¹Âi-à ÂalÃÂkÃÂ-puruá¹£a-caritam or "Lives of Sixty-Three Great Men" is a hagiographical treatment of the twenty four Tërthaá¹ karas and other important persons instrumental in defining the Jain philosophical position, collectively called the "à ÂalÃÂkÃÂpuruá¹£a", their asceticism and eventual liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth, as well as the legendary spread of the Jaina influence. It still serves as the standard synthesis of source material for the early history of Jainism. The appendix to this work, the Parià Âiá¹£á¹Âaparvan or SthavirÃÂvalëcarita, contains accounts of the ÃÂcÃÂrya tradition starting from Jambà «svÃÂmë. It has been translated into English as The Lives of the Jain Elders. In the test, Hemachandra accepts the polyandry of Draupadi and further suggests that Draupadë was NÃÂgaà Ârë in one of her previous lives and had poisoned a Jaina monk. Therefore, she had to suffer in hell and animal incarnations for several lives before being born as woman who later became a Jaina nun. After her death, she was reborn as Draupadë and was married to five PÃÂá¹Âá¸Âavas.
His KÃÂvyÃÂnuà ÂÃÂsana follows the model of Kashmiri rhetorician Mammaá¹Âa's KÃÂvya-PrakÃÂà Âa. He has authored a commentary called Alaá¹ kÃÂracà «á¸ÂÃÂmaá¹Âi and annotation called Viveka. He has quoted other scholars like ÃÂnandavardhana and Abhinavagupta in his works.
AbhidhÃÂnacintÃÂmaá¹Âi is a Saá¹Âská¹Âta lexicon while AnekÃÂrthakoá¹£a is a lexicon of words bearing multiple meanings. Deà ÂënÃÂmamÃÂlàis the lexicon of local or non-Sanskrit origin. Nighaá¹Âá¹Âu à Âeá¹£a is a botanical lexicon.
He composed the Chandonuà ÂÃÂsana, a work on prosody, with commentary.
Hemacandra, following the earlier Gopala, described the Fibonacci sequence in around 1150, about fifty years before Fibonacci (1202). He was considering the number of cadences of length n, and showed that these could be formed by adding a short syllable to a cadence of length n â 1, or a long syllable to one of n â 2. This recursion relation F(n) = F(n â 1) + F(n â 2) is what defines the Fibonacci sequence.
He () studied the rhythms of Sanskrit poetry. Syllables in Sanskrit are either long or short. Long syllables have twice the length of short syllables. The question he asked is How many rhythm patterns with a given total length can be formed from short and long syllables? For example, how many patterns have the length of five short syllables (i.e. five "beats")? There are eight: SSSSS, SSSL, SSLS, SLSS, LSSS, SLL, LSL, LLS. As rhythm patterns, these are xxxxx, xxxx., xxx.x, xx.xx, x.xxx, xx.x., x.xx., x.x.x
His other works include a commentary in rhetoric work called Pramana-MëmÃÂá¹Âsà(a work on logic and epistemology), Vitaraga-Stotra (praise of Jina).