Note 104 — Chapter II · THE CHAULUKYAS OR SOLAṄKIS (a.d. 961–1242)

During Kumárapála’s reign Hemachandra wrote many well known Sanskrit and Prakrit works on literature and religion. Among these are the Adhyátmopanishad or Yogaśástra a work of 12,000 verses in twelve chapters called Prakáśas, the Trisáshṭhisálákápurushacharitra or lives of sixty-three Jain saints of the Utsarpiní and Avasarpiní ages; the Pariśishṭaparvan, a work of 3500 verses being the life of Jain Sthaviras who flourished after Mahávíra; the Prákṛita Śabdánuśásana or Prákrit grammar; the Dvyáśraya104 a Prakrit poem written with the double object of teaching grammar and of giving the history of Kumárapála; the Chhandonuśásana a work of about 6000 verses on prosody; the Liṅgánuśásana a work on genders; the Deśínámamálá in Prakrit with a commentary a work on local and provincial words; and the Alaṅkárachúḍámaṇi a work on rhetoric. Hemachandra died in a.d. 1172 (S. 1229) at the age of 84. The king greatly mourned his loss and marked his brow with Hemachandra’s ashes. Such crowds came to share in the ashes of the pyre that the ground was hollowed into a pit known as the Haima-Khadda or Hema’s Pit.