Pramanamimansa and Hemacandra by Satkari Mookherjee
Summary
The piece explains why Hemacandra’s Pramāṇamīmāṁsā holds a central place in Jaina logic and epistemology as a standard textbook, despite its reliance on earlier authors. In classical India, reproducing predecessors’ arguments (sometimes verbatim, with or without explicit attribution) was acceptable; fidelity to a school’s fundamentals mattered more than “originality” in expression or thesis. Hemacandra wrote late in the medieval period, following major Digambara figures Akalanka, Vidyānandi, Prabhācandra and Śvetāmbara figures Siddhasena Divākara, Haribhadra, Siddharṣi, Abhayadeva; his contemporary Vādi Deva Sūri authored the encyclopedic Syādvāda-ratnākara. Purpose and form: With earlier works either vast (e.g., Syādvāda-ratnākara) or forbiddingly technical (e.g., Prabhācandra), Hemacandra produced a concise teaching text in sūtra-and-commentary style (like Vādi Deva Sūri’s), avoiding prolixity while retaining arguments necessary to elucidate problems. It is terse, suggestive, and comprehensive enough for students, though best studied with a teacher. Status of the text: Manuscripts end abruptly at the same point, indicating the work is incomplete, likely Hemacandra’s last. A companion note highlights Hemacandra’s devotional works: Vītarāgastotra (~186 verses in 20 hymns praising Mahāvīra, described by the contemporary Yasopāla as twenty “divya-gulikas”/divine pills), and two Dvātṛṃśikās—Ayogavyavacchedikā (rejects the charge that Jainism is wrong) and Anyayogavyavacchedikā (rebuts rival systems’ claims). The latter later underpinned Malliṣeṇa’s Syādvāda-mañjarī. Despite philosophical content, these are genuine devotional lyrics. Source context: Reprinted from the Preface to Pramāṇamīmāṁsā: A Critique of Organ of Knowledge by Satkari Mookherjee and Nathmal Tatia, in Jain Journal (April 1968).
AI-generated summary, automatically checked against the article text.
Conclusion
Hemacandra’s Pramāṇamīmāṁsā is a concise sūtra-with-commentary manual that synthesizes earlier Jaina (and non-Jaina) logic for students; valued for fidelity and breadth rather than novelty, it functions as a standard handbook, though all manuscripts break off at the same point, indicating the work remained unfinished and was likely his last. A brief note also records his devotional pieces—Vītarāgastotra (~186 verses in 20 hymns, noted by the contemporary Yasopāla) and two Dvātṛṃśikās, the latter informing Malliṣeṇa’s Syādvāda-mañjarī.