Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c35: XIX Hemacandra And The Vagbhatas

Studies in the History of Sanskrit Poetics v1.c35

Language: English

v1.c35.s1 Hemacandra — 1 part
v1.c35.s2 Vāgbhaṭa I — 8 parts

XIX Hemacandra And The Vagbhatas

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The versatile and voluminous Jaina writer Hemacandra directed his many-sided activity to the field of Sanskrit Poetics as well, and wrote a *Kāvyānuśāsana* (with *vrtti*) and its commentary, called *Alaṃkāra-cūḍāmaṇi*, basing it chiefly on Mammaṭa's work, but appropriating his materials from various sources¹. While as a textbook it hardly supersedes the *Kāvyaprakāśa*, it is, like most of Hemacandra's other productions, more or less an industrious compilation, displaying its author's encyclopaedic erudition, but hardly constituting an original contribution to the subject.

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¹ He appropriates, for instance, long passages, without acknowledgment, from Rājaśekhara, Abhinavagupta, the Vakrôktijivita-kāra, Mammaṭa and others. The passage in the commentary from p. 57 to p. 66 is copied almost *verbatim* from Abhinava on Bharata ch vi, with only a general acknowledgment at conclusion *iti śrīmān abhinavaguptâcāryaḥ, etan matam evâsmābhir upajīvitam veditavyam* (p. 66). In the *vrtti*, again, at p. 83, the remarks on the *sthāyi-bhāva* (pp. 83-84) are copied from the same source. His extensive appropriation from Rājaśekhara has been already alluded to see p. 125f above. At p. 316 he calls himself a follower of Bharata's views (*bharata-matânusārī*). His dependence on earlier works is so close as to amount at times to almost slavish imitation or plagiarism.

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About Hemacandra and his time, we know perhaps more than we do with regard to other writers on Poetics, and the biographical and other details will be found collected together in Bühler’s erudite little pamphlet on this author¹. Hemacandra was born at Dhunduka (in Ahmedabad) on the full noon night of the month of Kārttika in the saṃvat year 1145 = 1088-89 A.D., of humble parents, named Caciga and Pahini. He was originally named Cāṅgadeva. He was consecrated as a Jaina monk in saṃvat 1154 = 1098 A.D., taking the name of Somānanda. He was a pupil of Devacandra of Vajra-śākhā, author of the Sthānaka-vṛtti and the Śāntinātha-carita. He became a sūri or ācārya in saṃvat 1166 = 1110 A.D., changing his name, again, into Hemacandra. He spent the greater part of his life, as the acknowledged head of the Jaina community at Aṇahilla-pattana, under the patronage of Jayasiṃha Siddharāja (1094-1143 A.D.) and his successor Kumārapāla of Guzerat, dying shortly before the latter in saṃvat 1229 = 1173 A.D. He wrote most of his works at the request of his patrons, of whom he converted Kumārapāla into Jainism in saṃvat 1216 = 1160 A.D.

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¹ Ueber das Leben des Jaina Monches Hemacandra, Wien, 1889 ; Jacobi in Ency. of Religion and Ethics, vi 591.

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There are two Vāgbhaṭas in Sanskrit Poetics who must be distinguished from each other, viz. Vāgbhaṭa, author of the Vāgbhaṭālaṃkāra (here cited as Vāgbhaṭa I) and Vāgbhaṭa, author of the Kāvyānuśāsana and its vṛtti, Alaṃkāra-tilaka (here cited as Vāgbhaṭa II). Eggeling¹ falls into the error of confounding the two and assigning both the works to the same author. From the Vāgbhaṭālaṃkāra iv 148, we learn that the Jaina name in the Prakrit form of the author is Bāhaḍa and that he was the son of Soma². From the Kāvyānuśāsana and its commentary³, on the other hand, we learn that its author was the son of Nemikumāra and Mahā-(mahī?-) devī or Vasundharā; while his native town, called Rāhaḍapura from the shrine of a deity of that name, is mentioned⁴, as well as described, in a verse by the author himself⁵. Vāgbhaṭa II also appears to cite Vāgbhaṭa I as one of his authorities⁶. Both the Vāgbhaṭas, however, quote from the poet Vāgbhaṭa, author of the Nemi-nirvāṇa, Vāgbhaṭa II citing the poem by name frequently for the purpose of illustrating the characteristics of a good poem (e.g. p. 16)⁷. It appears that Vāgbhaṭa I may or may not be identical with the poet of the Nemi-nirvāṇa; but Vāgbhaṭa II should be distinguised from both¹. We must also distinguish the medical writer Vāgbhaṭa, son of Siṃhagupta.

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¹ IOC iii pp. 330-1.

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² So also in Jinavardhana, Siṃhadeva and Kṣemahaṃsa-gani's comms. on this verse.

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³ p. 1 vṛtti, and the concluding verse.

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⁴ p. 1 vṛtti.

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⁵ IOC iii p. 332. In the Kāvyamālā edition of the work, this verse is also given at p. 10, but the words asmābhir uktam, preceding it in the India Office MS, are wanting.

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⁶ ii p. 31: iti daṇḍi-vāmana-vāgbhaṭādi-praṇītā daśa kāvya-guṇāḥ.

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⁷ The verses quoted in Vāgbhaṭālaṃkāra from the Nemi-nirvāṇa are given by Jacob, op. cit. p. 309.

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¹ Winternitz thinks (*Geschichte der Ind. Lit.* ii p. 338 fn 1, iii p. 22 fn 1, also iii p. 642) that Vāgbhaṭa I is the same as the poet of the *Nemi-nirvāṇa*.—Jalhaṇa ascribes the verse *anālocya premṇaḥ* to one Vāgbhaṭa, but it does not occur in any of these Vāgbhaṭas. It occurs, however, in Amaru 80. It is cited anonymously by Vallabhadeva 1170; while in the *Sadukti-karṇāmṛta* it is attributed to Rājaśekhara, and in *Kavīndra-vacana* 372 to the poetess Vikaṭa-nitambā.

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Vāgbhaṭa I seems to have been contemporaneous with Hemacandra, and lived under the Cālukya Jayasiṃha Siddharāja of Aṇahilla-paṭṭana², who flourished from 1094 to 1143 A.D. We have references to this king and his capital in iv 45, 76, 81, 85 and 132, and he is described as the son of king Karṇadeva. Both Jinavardhana Sūri and Siṃhadeva Gaṇi in their commentaries explain that the prince referred to is Jayasiṃha, son of Karṇadeva, of Aṇahilla-pāṭaka. It also appears from what Siṃhadeva Gaṇi on iv 148 says that Vāgbhaṭa was probably a *mahāmātya* of the said prince, a statement which is supported by the description given of our author in Prabhācandra Sūri's *Prabhāvaka-carita*³, from which we also learn that Vāgbhaṭa lived in 1123 A.D. and also in 1157 A.D. Vāgbhaṭa's literary activity, therefore, may be assigned roughly to the first half of the 12th century.

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² and not Jayasiṃha of Kashmir, as Haricānd (p. 49) erroneously gives it.

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³ Second half of the 13th century, see Bühler's *Hemacandra* note 1; also *Vāgbhaṭālaṃ* (ed. Kāvyamālā, 1916) p.1-2fn.

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Vāgbhaṭa II appears to be a later writer. His reference to Vāgbhaṭa I and considerable borrowing from Hemacandra give us one limit to his date. The other terminus¹ is unknown; for the Jaina authors (excepting Hemacandra) are rarely quoted by later writers on the subject. He may have been earlier than Deveśvara, whose borrowings, however, are not conclusive enough for any chronological inference. Vāgbhaṭa II himself cites two of his own works, viz. Ṛṣabhadeva-carita (p. 15, called a mahākāvya) and Chandónuśāsana (p. 20); but of these nothing is known. In two illustrative verses there are references to two princes called Mūlarāja (p. 45) and Vibhākara (p. 44). This Vibhākara is unknown, but Mūlarāja appears to be the same as the founder of the Cālukya dynasty at Aṇahilla-pattana(= Anhilvāḍ) in Guzerat².

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¹ Haricānd Śāstrī (op. cit. p. 49) places him in the 13th century, but he does not state the grounds of his opinion.

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² Peterson notes (iii App. p. 124) a reference in the puṣpikā of a MS of Hemacandra's Triṣaṣṭi-śalāka-puruṣa to one Nemikumāra, who flourished in saṃvat 1295, and he queries whether this Nemikumāra was our Vāgbhaṭa's father (iv p. lxxi).

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No commentaries on Hemacandra and Vāgbhaṭa II is known, but the Vāgbhaṭálamkāra³ appears to have been fortunate in this respect. Of the commentators on this work, whose names are noted below, Jinavardhana Sūri and Siṃhadeva Gaṇi are better known, and their commentaries have been published. Jinavardhana was pupil of Jinarāja Sūri and was a priest of Kharatara-gaccha from about 1405 or 1419 A.D.¹. In some catalogues (e.g. Mitra 2814), his name is given as Ādinātha.

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³ The published text of this work contains five chapters, which is also the number in the Bodleian, Stein, Madras and India Office MSS; but Weber's MS (1718) adds a sixth chapter, which appears to deal with the figure yamaka.

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¹ Klatt in *IA* xi p. 249; Bhandarkar *Rep.* 1882-3, p. 25; *IOC* iii no 1156 and 2656a.

Hemacandra

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Edition. Kāvyamālā 71, 1901. MSS. Aufrecht i 103a, 32a (under *Alaṃkāracūḍāmaṇi*, Aufrecht apparently confuses between the text and the commentary, as also in) 779a; .iii 22b. Madras Cat. 12836.

Vāgbhaṭa I

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Editions. (1) by A. Borooah, Calcutta 1883 (2) Kāvyamālā 48 (with Siṃhadeva Gaṇi’s comm.) 1895, 1915 (our references are to the ed. of 1915) (3) by Mūrtidhara, Śrīveṅkaṭeśvara Press, Bombay (4) with an old gloss, by Kṣemarāja Śrīkṛṣṇadāsa, Bombay 1894 (5) Granthamālā viii 1889-90 (with Jinavardhana’s comm.). MSS. Aufrecht i 559a, ii 132a, iii 118b. SCC vii 44; SCB 687; KBod 509; Madras Cat. 12954. Commentaries. (1) by Jinavardhana Sūri of Kharatara-gaccha. Ed. with the text in Granthamālā viii. MSS in Aufrecht i 559a, ii 132a, iii 118b: Bendall no. 421-22. Ādinātha in Aufrecht i 559a is the same as Jinavardhana.

Linked texts (12)

Saduktikarṇāmṛta — Śrīdharadāsa, Sanskrit
Kāvyaprakāśa — Mammaṭa & Alaṭa, Sanskrit
Amaruśataka — Amaru, Sanskrit
Prabhāvakacarita — Prabhācandra (Prabhāvakacarita), Sanskrit
Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacarita — Hemacandra, Sanskrit
Neminirvāṇa — Vāgbhaṭa (I), Sanskrit
Śāntināthacarita (Munibhadra) — Munibhadra, Sanskrit
Alaṅkāracūḍāmaṇi — Ajitasena, Sanskrit
Kavīndravacanasamuccaya — Sanskrit
Kāvyānuśāsana — Hemacandra, Sanskrit
Chandonuśāsana (Jayakīrti) — Jayakīrti, Sanskrit
Vāgbhaṭālaṅkāra — Dharmadāsa, Sanskrit