The Parishishtaparvan () also known as the Sthaviravalicharitra () is a 12th-century
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
mahakavya
Mahākāvya (lit. great kāvya, court epic), also known as ''sargabandha'', is a genre of Indian epic poetry in Classical Sanskrit. The genre is characterised by ornate and elaborate descriptions of phenomena such as scenery, love, and battles. T ...
by
Hemachandra
Hemacandra was a 12th century () Śvetāmbara Jaina acharya, ācārya, scholar, poet, mathematician, philosopher, yogi, wikt:grammarian, grammarian, Law, law theorist, historian, Lexicography, lexicographer, rhetorician, logician, and Prosody ...
which details the histories of the earliest
Jain 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 th ...
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 religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...
, 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 extended ...
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 kingdom in ancient India, based in the eastern Ganges Plain. It was one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas during the Second Urbanization period. The region was ruled by several dynasties, which overshadowed, conquered, and ...
and the establishment of the
Maurya Empire
The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary source ...
. According to Hemachandra, the sequence of rulers in the times of the Jains discussed was:
Shrenika,
Kunika
Kunika Sadanand, known mononymously as Kunika, is an Indian actress, advocate, producer and social activist. She is known for her various characters in many Indian films as a villain and in comic roles.
Also a singer, she has released three ...
,
Udayin
Udayin (reigned -444 BCE or 373-357 BCE) also known as Udayabhadra was a king of Magadha in ancient India. According to the Buddhist and Jain accounts, he was the son and successor of the Haryanka king Ajatashatru. Udayin laid the foundation ...
, the nine
Nandas,
,
Ashoka
Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...
, and
Samprati
Samprati () was the fifth emperor of the Maurya Empire. He was the grandson of the third Mauryan emperor, Ashoka, and the son of Kunala. He succeeded his cousin, Dasharatha Maurya. According to Jain tradition, he built 1,50,000 Jain derasa ...
. 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 (ISO 15919, ISO: ', चाणक्य, ), according to legendary narratives preserved in various traditions dating from the 4th to 11th century CE, was a Brahmin who assisted the first Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya, Chandragup ...
of attacking
Dhana Nanda
Dhana Nanda (died ), according to the Buddhist text '' Mahabodhivamsa'', was the last Nanda king of Magadha.
Chandragupta Maurya raised an army that eventually conquered the Nanda capital Pataliputra and defeated him. This defeat marked the ...
's capital. It further narrates that he leaned from this incidence and changed strategy by convincing peripheral kingdoms starting with
Parvataka
The Mudrārākshasa (मुद्राराक्षस, IAST: ''Mudrārākṣasa'', ) is a Sanskrit-language play by Vishakhadatta that narrates the ascent of the Emperor Chandragupta Maurya ( BCE) to power in India. The play is an example ...
of
Himavatkuta.
Edition
* ''Sthaviravalicarita or Pariśiṣṭaparvan, being an Appendix of the Triṣaṣṭi-śālākāpuruṣacarita by Hemacandra'' (1932) by
Hermann Jacobi
Hermann Georg Jacobi (11 February 1850 – 19 October 1937) was an eminent German Indologist.
Education
Jacobi was born in Köln (Cologne) on 11 February 1850. He was educated in the gymnasium of Cologne and then went to the University of Be ...
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 , year=2016 , isbn=978-81-317-1677-9 , ref={{sfnref, Upinder Singh, 2016
*Hemacandra. ''Sthavirāvalīcarita'' or ''Pariśiṣṭaparvan'', ed. H. Jacobi, Calcutta, 1883; trans. Fynes (1998).
Jain texts
Epic poems in Sanskrit
12th-century Sanskrit literature