Trishashti Shalaka Purusha Caritra
by Helen M. Johnson | 1931 | 742,503 words
This is the English translation of the Trishashti Shalaka Purusha Charita (literally “The lives of the sixty-three illustrious People”), a Sanskrit epic poem written by Hemachandra in the twelfth century. The work relates the history and legends of important figures in the Jain faith. These 63 persons include: the twenty four tirthankaras , the t...
Foreword to Volume 6
The Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacaritra of Ācārya Hemacandra is an encyclopaedia in Sanskrit of Jaina Mythology and a great store-house of legends, traditions, stories, anecdotes, and what not. It also shows the great savant as a remarkable poet; its literary medium has its own peculiarities which would be of interest to students of Sanskrit literature as well as of language; and rich cultural data supplied by it is of immense value for a study of cultural conditions of mediaeval India in general and Gujarat in particular. (An illustrative study of the Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacaritra from these various points of view was presented by Mr. J. P. Thaker in a paper which was published in the Journal of the Oriental Institute, Vol. IV, nos. 2-3, 1954-55). It is apparent that Hemacandra had utilized all the Jaina literature—Canonical and otherwise—that was known in his times while composing the Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacaritra, and its value is all the more enhanced because some of Hemacandra’s sources arc not extant now or are comparatively less known so far.
A Gujarati translation of the Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacaritra was published many years back by the Jaina Dharma Prasāraka Sabhā of Bhavnagar. But an English translation of such an important text was a desideratum, and it is a matter of satisfaction that with the publication of the present volume the English translation is brought to completion after a long time. The first volume was published in 1931, and the last two volumes—fifth and sixth—are brought out in 1962.
Dr. Helen M. Johnson has done the whole translation with remarkable scholarship, industry and perseverance, and for completing the last two volumes she has come to Baroda and worked in the Oriental Institute for about two years. But for her recent sojourn in India the work would have taken a still longer time.
I trust that the six volumes of the translation of this encyclopaedic work will be useful to all students of Indian literature and philosophy.
B. J. Sandesara,
Director
Oriental Institute,
BARODA
October 2, 1962