Prabhavakacarita
Prabhāvakacarita is a Jaina text devoted to history, composed by Prabhācandra, an acarya of the Śvetāmbara tradition of Jainism in 1277–78. While Prabhāvakacarita is dedicated to the lives of Jain monks of the Śvetāmbara tradition, it is often quoted in the context of classical and medieval history, often dealing with the time of Acharya Hemachandra. 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 1st century C. E. to 12th 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 to 13th century, concluding with the account of Hemachandra. It gives an account of 22 ācārya, including Vajrasvāmī, Kālaka, Haribhadra, Bapabhatti, Mānatuṅga, Mahendrasūri 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 metre.- Ārya Vajrasvāmī
- Ārya Rakṣitasūri
- Ārya Nandila
- Kālakasūri
- Pādaliptasūri
- Vijayasiṃhasūri
- Jīvadevasūri
- Ācārya Vṛddhavādī
- Ācārya Mallavādī
- Haribhadrasūri
- Bappabhaṭṭisūri
- Mānatuṅgasūri
- Mānadevasūri
- Mahākavi Siddharṣi
- Vīragaṇī
- ‘Vādivetāla’ Śāntisūri
- Mahendrasūri
- Sūrācārya
- Abhayadevasūri
- Vīrācārya
- Vādī Devasūri
- Hemacandrasūri
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
- Hindi Translation by Dr. Shreeranjan Suridev, Published by Research Institute of Prakrit, Jainology and Ahimsa – 2013