The Parishishtaparvan () also known as the Sthaviravalicharitra () is a 12th-century
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...
mahakavya by
Hemachandra which details the histories of the earliest
Jain
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...
teachers. The poem comprises 3,460 verse couplets divided into 13
canto
The canto () is a principal form of division in medieval and modern long poetry.
Etymology and equivalent terms
The word ''canto'' is derived from the Italian word for "song" or "singing", which comes from the Latin ''cantus'', "song", from the ...
s of unequal length and is also notable for providing information on the political history of ancient India.
The ''Trishashtishalakapurushacharitra'' (; ''The Lives of the Sixty-three Illustrious People''), an epic Sanskrit poem on the key figures in
Jainism
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle bein ...
, was composed by Hemachandra at the request of the
Chaulukya
The Chaulukya dynasty (), also Solanki dynasty, was a dynasty that ruled parts of what are now Gujarat and Rajasthan in north-western India, between and . Their capital was located at Anahilavada (modern Patan). At times, their rule extende ...
king,
Kumarapala. The Sthaviravalicharitra (''The Lives of the Jain Elders'') is considered a self-contained sequel to this work and is consequently referred to as the Parishishtaparvan or ''The Appendix''.
The period largely covered in the poem corresponds to and follows the growth of the kingdom of
Magadha
Magadha was a region and one of the sixteen sa, script=Latn, Mahajanapadas, label=none, lit=Great Kingdoms of the Second Urbanization (600–200 BCE) in what is now south Bihar (before expansion) at the eastern Ganges Plain. Magadha was rul ...
and the establishment of the
Maurya Empire
The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until ...
. According to Hemachandra, the sequence of rulers in the times of the Jains discussed was:
Shrenika
Bimbisāra (in Buddhist tradition) or Shrenika () and Seniya () in the Jain histories (c. 558 – c. 491 BCE or during the late 5th century BCE) was a King of Magadha (V. K. Agnihotri (ed.), ''Indian History''. Allied Publishers, New Delhi 2 ...
,
Kunika,
Udayin, the nine
Nandas,
Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya (350-295 BCE) was a ruler in Ancient India who expanded a geographically-extensive kingdom based in Magadha and founded the Maurya dynasty. He reigned from 320 BCE to 298 BCE. The Maurya kingdom expanded to become an emp ...
,
Ashoka
Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...
, and
Samprati. Hemachandra also speaks of Samprati being instrumental in the spread of Jainism further south.
The Parishishtaparvan was Hemachandra's last major work.
Contents
The text talks about the incorrect strategy of
Chanakya
Chanakya ( Sanskrit: चाणक्य; IAST: ', ; 375–283 BCE) was an ancient Indian polymath who was active as a teacher, author, strategist, philosopher, economist, jurist, and royal advisor. He is traditionally identified as Kauṭi ...
of attacking
Dhana Nanda's capital. It further narrates that he leaned from this incidence and changed strategy by convincing peripheral kingdoms starting with
Parvataka of
Himavatkuta.
Edition
* ''Sthaviravalicarita or Pariśiṣṭaparvan, being an Appendix of the Triṣaṣṭi-śālākāpuruṣacarita by Hemacandra'' (1932) by
Hermann Jacobi
Translation
* ''The Lives of the Jain Elders'' (1998) by R.C.C. Fynes
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
* {{citation , last=Singh , first=Upinder , author-link=Upinder Singh , title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pq2iCwAAQBAJ , publisher=
Pearson PLC
Pearson plc is a British multinational publishing and education company headquartered in London, England.
It was founded as a construction business in the 1840s but switched to publishing in the 1920s. Spender, J. A., ''Weetman Pearson: F ...
, year=2016 , isbn=978-81-317-1677-9 , ref={{sfnref, Upinder Singh, 2016
Jain texts
Epic poems in Sanskrit