Hemachandra

Hemacandra was a 12th century (c. 1088 – c. 1172/1173 CE) Śvetāmbara Jaina ācārya, scholar, poet, mathematician, philosopher, yogi, grammarian,[1] law theorist,[2][3] historian,[4] lexicographer, rhetorician, logician, and prosodist.[5] Noted as a prodigy by his contemporaries, he gained the title kalikālasarvajña, "the knower of all knowledge in his times" and is also regarded as father of the Gujarati language.He also produced Triśaṣṭi-śalākā-puruṣacarita (“Deeds of the 63 Illustrious Men”), a Sanskrit epic poem on the history of important figures of Jainism.Hemacandra was born in Dhandhuka, in present-day Gujarat, on Kartika Sud Purnima (the full moon day of Kārtika month).In his childhood, the Jaina monk Devacandra Sūri visited Dhandhuka and was impressed by the young Hemacandra's intellect.[8] According to the Prabhācandra, there was an incident where Siddharāja wanted to kill his nephew Kumarāpala because it was prophesied that the kingdom would meet its demise at Kumarapāla's hands.His influence on Kumārapāla resulted in Jainism becoming the official religion of Gujarat and animal slaughter was banned in the state.[6] A prodigious writer, Hemacandra wrote grammars of Sanskrit and Prakrit, poetry, prosody, lexicons, texts on science and logic and many branches of Indian philosophy.[15] The Siddha-Hema-Śabdanuśāśana includes six languages: Sanskrit, the "standard" Prakrit (virtually Mahārāṣṭrī Prākrit), Śaurasenī, Māgadhī, Paiśācī, the otherwise-unattested Cūlikāpaiśācī and Apabhraṃśa (virtually Gurjar Apabhraṃśa, prevalent in the area of Gujarat and Rajasthan at that time and the precursor of Gujarati language).[8] He wrote the grammar in form of rules, with 8 Adhyayas (Chapters) and its auto-commentraries namely - "Tattvaprakāśikā Bṛhadvṛtti" with "Śabdamahārṇava Nyāsa" in one year.[18][2] To illustrate the grammar, he produced the epic poetry Dvyāśraya Kāvya on the history of Chaulukya dynasty.[8] The epic poem Triṣaṣṭi-śalākā-puruṣa-caritam or "Lives of Sixty-Three Great Men" is a hagiographical treatment of the twenty four Tīrthaṅkaras and other important persons instrumental in defining the Jain philosophical position, collectively called the "śalākāpuruṣa", their asceticism and eventual liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth, as well as the legendary spread of the Jaina influence.[20] In the test, Hemchandra accepts the polyandry of Draupadi and further suggests that Draupadī was Nāgaśrī in one of her previous lives and had poisoned a Jaina monk.