Hemachandra

Hemacandra was a 12th century (c. 1088  – c. 1172/1173 CE) <a href="/facts/%C5%9Avet%C4%81mbara/SKHpc6l8">Śvetāmbara</a> Jaina <a href="/facts/Acharya/1RvXLqey">ācārya</a>, scholar, poet, mathematician, <a href="/facts/Philosopher/Hyvzc54m">philosopher</a>, <a href="/facts/Yogi/juLpk6k8">yogi</a>, grammarian, <a href="/facts/Law/luzxWkg0">law theorist</a>, <a href="/facts/Historian/5DBH5eCb">historian</a>, <a href="/facts/Lexicography/3btFWjIx">lexicographer</a>, <a href="/facts/Rhetoric/mB9np26l">rhetorician</a>, <a href="/facts/Logic/8JnpJLtt">logician</a>, and <a href="/facts/Prosody_(linguistics)/UDzAIz46">prosodist</a>. Noted as a prodigy by his contemporaries, he gained the title kalikālasarvajña, "the knower of all knowledge in his times" and is also regarded as father of the <a href="/facts/Gujarati_language/kGKRRbwe">Gujarati language</a>.
Born as Caṅgadeva, he was ordained in the <a href="/facts/%C5%9Av%C4%93t%C4%81mbara/SKHpc6l8">Śvetāmbara</a> school of Jainism in 1110 and took the name Somacandra. In 1125 he became an adviser to King Kumārapāla and wrote Arhannīti, a work on politics from Jaina perspective. He also produced Triśaṣṭi-śalākā-puruṣacarita (“Deeds of the 63 Illustrious Men”), a Sanskrit epic poem on the history of important figures of Jainism. Later when he was consecrated as ācārya, his name was changed to Hemacandra.

Hemachandra open-in-new

Hemachandra