Hemacandra’s Contribution to Sanskrit Grammatical Systems

DOI- https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24197180

Abstract

This paper tries to enquire the grammatical tradition of Hemacandra, which was born in 12^th century. He was known as ‘Kalikālasarvajña’(the omniscient of Kali era). Focusing on his famous grammatical treatise Siddha-Hema-Śabdānuśāsana, this paper examines how Hemacandra’s was innovative and logical in synthesizing, simplifing, and expanding the indigenous Indian grammatical tradition. Siddha-Hema-Śabdānuśāsana of Hemacandra is divided into eight chapters, out of which seven chapters are on Classical Sanskrit and an eight chapter is dedicated to Prakrit I and Apabhraṁśa dialects. Hemacandra managed to balance the Paninian pedagogy with changing linguistic conditions and New Indo-Aryan vernaculars. The paper analyzes his practical pedagogical restructuring, his elimination of intricate Vedic rules and cumbersome algebraic pratyāhāras in favor of anvartha (transparent) terminology, his complete pañcāṅga grammatical apparatus, and his illustrative historical epics (Dvyāśraya-kāvya).

Keywords: Hemacandra, Siddhahemaśabdānuśasana, Dvyāśrayamahākāvya, Prakrit, Chalukya dynasty, Jayasimha.