Prabhāvakacarita (Life of the Prominent) is a Jaina text devoted to history, composed by Prabhācandra, an '' acarya'' of the

Śvetāmbara The Śvetāmbara (; also spelled Shwetambara, Shvetambara, Svetambara or Swetambara) is one of the two main branches of Jainism, the other being the Digambara. ''Śvetāmbara'' in Sanskrit means "white-clad", and refers to its ascetics' practi ...

tradition of

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 ...

in 1277–78. While Prabhāvakacarita is dedicated to the lives of Jain monks of the

tradition, it is often quoted in the context of classical and

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

history, often dealing with the time of Acharya

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 ...

. As a historic text, this work serves as a major source of the information on the society in that era. Prabhāvakacarita includes a mention of use a parachute in ancient India. Prabhācandra was inspired from the Pariśiṣṭaparva, an appendix to Triśaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacarita by Hemacandrasūri to compose a work that encompasses the lives of Jaina monks prominently and the kings, statesmen, associated or belonging from 1^st century C. E. to 12^th century C. E. This work has been corrected by Pradyumnasūri, disciple of Kanakaprabhasūri. Prabhachandra gives accounts of acāryas from the first century of the

Vikrama era Vikram Samvat (ISO: ''Vikrama Saṁvata''; abbreviated VS), also known as the Vikrami calendar is a Hindu calendar historically used in the Indian subcontinent and still also used in several Indian states and Nepal. It is a lunisolar calendar, ...

to 13th century, concluding with the account of

. It gives an account of 22 ācārya, including Vajrasvāmī, Kālaka, Haribhadra, Bapabhatti, Mānatuṅga, Mahendrasūri (which includes an account of poet DhanapālaDhanapāla and His Times: A Socio-cultural Study Based Upon His Works, Ganga Prasad Yadava, Concept Publishing Company, 1982, p. 26) and Hemachandra. It concludes by including a praśasti of the author himself.

Contents & Structure

This work is divided into 22 prabandhas divided on basis of lives of each personality. It contains 5704 verses prominently in

Anuṣṭubh (, ) is a metre and a metrical unit, found in both Vedic and Classical Sanskrit poetry, but with significant differences. By origin, an anuṣṭubh stanza is a quatrain of four lines. Each line, called a ''pāda'' (lit. "foot"), has eight syll ...

metre. # Ārya Vajrasvāmī (also contains account of Ārya Khapuṭācārya) # Ārya Rakṣitasūri # Ārya Nandila # Kālakasūri # Pādaliptasūri (also contains accounts of Rudradevasūri, Śramaṇasiṃhasūri, Ārya Khapaṭa, Mahendra Upādhyāya and Nāgārjuna Siddha) # Vijayasiṃhasūri # Jīvadevasūri # Ācārya Vṛddhavādī (also contains accounts of Siddhasena Divākara and king Vikramāditya) # Ācārya Mallavādī # Haribhadrasūri # Bappabhaṭṭisūri (contains accounts of king Yaśovarman, Āma and poet Vākpatirāja) # Mānatuṅgasūri (also contains accounts of Saṃskṛta poets

Bāṇabhaṭṭa Bāṇabhaṭṭa () was a 7th-century Sanskrit prose writer and poet from India. He was the ''Asthana Kavi'' in the court of the Emperor Harsha, during his reign at Kanyakubja. Bāna's principal works include a biography of Harsha, the ''Ha ...

and Mayūra) # Mānadevasūri # Mahākavi Siddharṣi # Vīragaṇī # ‘Vādivetāla’ Śāntisūri (also contains accounts of

Bhoja Bhoja was the Paramara dynasty, Paramara king of Malwa from 1010 until his death in 1055. He ruled from Dhara (city), Dhara (modern Dhar), and Military career of Bhoja, fought wars with nearly all his neighbours in attempts to extend his king ...

) # Mahendrasūri (also contains accounts of Dhanapāla, Śobhana and poet Kaula) # Sūrācārya (also contains accounts of Jineśvarasūri and Buddhisāgarasūri) # Abhayadevasūri # Vīrācārya # Vādī Devasūri # Hemacandrasūri (also contains accounts of Siddharāja Jayasiṃha, Kumārapāla)

Editions

* Prabhāvakcaritra by Candraprabhasūri, Ed. by Hīrānanda M. Sharma, Published by Nirnay Sagar Press - 1909 * Prabhāvakacarita by Prabhācandrasūri, Ed. by Jinavijaya, Published in Singhi Jain Series no. 13 - 1940

Translations

* Gujarati Translation published by Atmamand Sabha, Bhavnagar – 1930 (based on Nirnay Sagar edition) * Hindi Translation by Dr. Shreeranjan Suridev, Published by Research Institute of Prakrit, Jainology and Ahimsa – 2013 (based on Singhi Jain Series edition)

Bibliography

*Prabhācandra. ''Prabhāvakacarita'', ed. Jinavijaya, Ahmedabad/Calcutta, 1940.

References

Jain texts {{Jainism-stub