The Parishishtaparvan () also known as the Sthaviravalicharitra () is a 12th-century
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
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 scenery, love, battles and so on — in short, eve ...
by
Hemachandra
Hemachandra was a 12th century () Indian Jain saint, scholar, poet, mathematician, philosopher, yogi, grammarian, law theorist, historian, lexicographer, rhetorician, logician, and prosodist. Noted as a prodigy by his contemporaries, he gain ...
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 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 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 ruled ...
and the establishment of the
Maurya Empire. According to Hemachandra, the sequence of rulers in the times of the Jains discussed was:
Shrenika,
Kunika
Kunika Sadanand Lal is an Indian TV actor, 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 pop albums titled ''Lakhon Me ...
,
Udayin
Udayin (c. 460-444 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 of the city of Pata ...
, the nine
Nandas
The Nanda dynasty ruled in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent during the fourth century BCE, and possibly during the fifth century BCE. The Nandas overthrew the Shaishunaga dynasty in the Magadha region of eastern India, and expanded ...
,
Chandragupta Maurya,
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
Samprati () was the 5th Emperor of the Maurya dynasty. He was the son of 3rd Mauryan Emperor Ashoka's blind son, Kunala, and succeeded his cousin, 4th Mauryan Emperor Dasharatha, as emperor of the Maurya Empire. He built 1,50,000 Jain Derasar ...
. 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 Kauṭil ...
of attacking
Dhana Nanda
Dhana Nanda (died c. 321 BCE), according to the Buddhist text '' Mahabodhivamsa'', was the last ruler of the Nanda dynasty of ancient India. He was the youngest son of Mahapadma Nanda.
Chandragupta Maurya raised an army that eventually conquere ...
's capital. It further narrates that he leaned from this incidence and changed strategy by convincing peripheral kingdoms starting with
Parvataka
Porus or Poros ( grc, Πῶρος ; 326–321 BC) was an ancient Indian king whose territory spanned the region between the Jhelum River (Hydaspes) and Chenab River (Acesines), in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. He is only men ...
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 Ber ...
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
Jain texts
Epic poems in Sanskrit