Chapter 4 - Life, Date and Works of Balachandra Suri

vagvallidala dasyavah kati na te samtyakhutulyopamah satyollekhamusah svakosthapitharisampurtidhaviddhiyah | so'nyah ko'pi vidarbharitibalavan balendusurih puro yasyasvargipurohito'pi na gavam paurogavastadrsah | | - Aparajita Kavi. 1 bahuprabandhakartuh sribalacandrasya ka stutih | mantrisavastupalena yah stutah kavitagunat | | -- Prdyumna Suri. 2 A. Geneology of Balacandra's Teachers Balacandra was a pupil of Haribhadra Suri of the candra Gachcha. He has given at length the genealogy of his teachers in the parasastis of his commentaries on the Upadesakandali and Vivekamanjari of Asada : In the Candra Gachcha there flourished an Acarya named Pradyumna Suri, who gave religious instruction to the king of Talavataka. Candraprabha Suri, who succeeded him, composed a moming hymn to Jina. After him came Dhanesvara Suri who got a Mantra from his Gurs and intiated to right understanding the Goddess of Samayupura. He had four pupils Virabhadra,

135 Devasuri, Devabhadra and Devendrasuri, like four hands of Sarasvati. Devendrasuri was staying at Mandali and he performed the installation ceremony of the image in a temple of Mahavira in that city. His successor was Bhdresvarasuri, and after him came Abhayadevasuri who vanquished many disputants. The poet Asada drank the nectrs of instruction of Abhayadevasuri, and then composed his two works - Vioskamanjari and Upadesakandali. His pupil was Haribhadra, well versed in six schools of philosophy and literature and the teacher of Balacandra Suri.³ Balacandra Suri's Personal History In the first Canto of his Vasantavilasamahakavya, Balacandra Suri has gives some accounts of his life, prior to his becoming a Jaina assetic: In the town of Modheraka there was a famous Brahmin named Dharadeva. He was well-aquainted with Jainism. He was a wealthy man, and supplicants coming to his house always returned with their hands full with wealth. The name of his wife was Vidyut. They had a son named Munjala, who though living with parents, looked on the world as an illusion. Being instructed and enlightened by Haribhadrasuri, he became a Jaina asetic with the permission of his parents and was named Balacandra.4 When Haribhadrasuri found that his end was near, he installed Balacandra in his place. Balacandra was tutored by Padmaditya, who was a great scholar and adored by the Caulukya kings. Udaya Suri of the Gachcha, of Vadi Devasuri gave him to the

$ 136 Sarsvata charm. Once when Balacandra was in Yoganidra or contemplative trance, Goddess Sarasvati appeared to him and told him that she was pleased with his devotion and that he was just her child, like Kalidasa and other poets³.And the poet says that being thus blessed by the Goddess Sarasvati, he became bold enough to sing the fame of Vastupala. The Prabandhas mention that once young Balacandra praised Vastupala with a verse verse 6, comparing him with God Siva in every respect; and Vastupala, being pleased with it, spent several thousand gold coins in the ceremony for installing Balacandra as an Acarya. C. Literary Works of Balacandra Suri The main work of Balacandra is his Vasantavilasamahakavya, depicting the life of Vasantapala, a name given to Vastupala by his poet-friends. It was written at the request of the latter's son Jaitrasimha. The author has not given the date of composition, but as it mentions the death of Vastupala in 1296 V.S., it must have been written after that year. 8 Karunavajrayudha is a one-act play of Balacandra, which was acted on Satrunjaya in the temple of Adinatha, for the eatertainment of the pilgrims on the occassion of one of Vastupala's Sanghayatras, as mentioned in the prologue.9 It has taken for its theme the Jaina version of the famous legend of king Sibhi and the pigeon occuring in the Vanaparvan of Mahabharata. In the

137 Jaina story the hero is king Vajrayudha who is the Tirthankara Santinatha in one of his former births, and it occures in its oldest form in the 21 st chapter of the Vasudeva Hindi of Samghadasa. In the prologue of the play the Sutradhara give good many details about Vastupala and his ancestors and also about the poet and his spritual teachers. Then follows a Viskambaka, containing a dilogue between two dancing-teachers named Kalahamsa and Kalakantha from which we know that king Vajrayudha has only recently retuned after accomplishing a worldconquest, and that he is a man of great pity. Kalahamsa infers form the throbing of both of his eyes that some incident will occur which will be bad for the king in the begining, but will turn out to be good in the end. Both start to see the king who was sitting in the courtyard of the Pausadhsala after ending the Pausadha of the last day which was the fourteenth day of the forthnight, held sacred by the Jainas. Then follows a conversatiom between the king and his minister Purusottama in which the king expresses his great ideas about the religion which enjoyes non-violence to all living beings and gives the ideal of his life in the following verse: asarasya sarirasya sarametadgunadvayam | tapah pranairapi pritividhanamapare jane | | 10 On which the fruition of the main action in the play is based. Meanwhile a great uproar is heard from the background, and a frightened dove chased by a hawk enters. The dove seeks shelter from the king, which the later is ever-ready to extend, but the hawk is very hungry and demands his

138 food, and faints. The king offers him sweet-balls, but he being a carnivorous animal can not partake of them. Then the king decides to give him the flesh of his own body equal in weight to that of dove, but the dove proves to be so weighty that the king sits down in the scale and thus offers his life for the bird. At this juncture the two gods who had came in the form of birds to test the kings piety reveal themselves, and everything ends well. The work is an example of a paly composed and performed for the propagation of the Jaina religion. Consequently, greater part of it is occupied by the religious discussions between the king and his minister, and also between the king and the hawk. Sometimes the pranks of Vidusaka bring a lively touch, but on the whole there is practically very little action, and the verses predominate over than dialogues. So much, so that we find not less than one hunndred thirty five stanzas in this short play. Some of the verses are quite noteworthy. When the Vidusaka raises doubts regarding the existence of another world the king makes him silent with the following illustration : karasthamapyevamami krsivalah ksipanti bijam prthupankasankate | vayasya kenapi katham vilokitah samasti nastityathava phalodayah | | 11 And description of the shining sabre in the kings hand :

139 satrunam kalaratrirmrgamadatilakah prajyasamrajyalaksmyah sakha sesadumasya prabalataramahah khadginah srngayastih | sphurjacchi pradipanjanamananuyasahpundarikasya nalam pathodhih puskaranamasirasitarucirbhati devasya haste | 12 Finally, when the gods praise the greatness of Vajrayudha, he expresses his modesty in very simple but eloquent words. sajjanah paramastokam stokamatyalapanti hi | kavayah kavayantyabdhim saramatyamrtakaram 1 1 13 Balacandra's Commentaries on the Vivekamanjari and Upadesakandali Next we come to Balacandra's Commentaries on the two prakrit Prakaranas by Asada-viz his Vivekamanjari and Upadesakandali. The former work contains 327 Gatas, while the latter one companies 125 Gathas and both the works contain Jian relegious instruction in its various aspects. The commentari on the Vivekamajari is published, 14 while that on the Upadesakandali being unprinted is available only in manuscript form. 15 Both the commentaries have been composed in the style of the Karnika inserting numerous long narratives in verse, so much Vivekamanjari is 8000 Slokas while that of the commentary on the Upadesakandali is 7600 Slokas. The Vivekamanjari Tika has been divided into four parts, and at the end of the first three parts the author has given a verse in praise of Jaitrasimha, Asada's so son

140 for whom he had composed the commentary, while at the end of the fourth part a long Prasassi has been given, which is litaraly identical with that at the end of the Upadesakandali Tika. The Upadesakandali Tika, is in twelve parts and two verses are apended at the end of the each part - One in praise of Haribhadra Suri the Guru of Balacandra, and the other in praise of Asada, the author of the original Prakaranas. 16 Date With regard to the date of the composition of the Mahakavya, no specific mention is made by the poet. But from the mention of the date of the death of Vastupala, which is placed in 1240 A.D. we can say that the work must have been composed after his death. Moreover, it is said here that the present Kavya was written for the pleasure of Jaitrasimha, Vastupala's son. 17 This shows that the date of the work falls in the period when Vastupala's son came into power. Thus the upper limit of the date of composition can be fixed about the end of the thirtheenth century A.D.

Foot Notes Chapter IV Life, Date and Works of Balacandra Suri 141 1. 2. 3. 4. This verse has been found written at the end of a manuscript of the Vasantavilasa of Balachandra Nothing is known about the date or present history of Aparajita Kavi. ( Vasantavilasa of Balachandra p.79) Samaraditya - Samksepa, 1.26. cf. B.J.Sandesara, Mahamatya Vastupala, p.76. daridralo karttidavambudasya kanta'bhavadvidyudivasya vidyut | sanmargamudhotayati sma sadyo ya dehinam durdinamaksipanti | | 51 | | pitroh padopastividhau sadoja mujalanamajani tattanujah | samsaramalokayati sma yo'mum jalasvarupam nivasangrhe'pi | | 52 | | samahitah sriharibhadrasurigurorgiropattavivekasampat | kathancidevanumatah pitrbhyamabhyasadajainamatavratam sah ||53 | | purnah samagrabhirasau kalabhih kramena bhaviti gururvibhavya | tam pritacetah kila balacandra ityakhyaya diksitamabhyadhatta | | 54 ||

S. adhitavidham tamatha kramena samaruruksurdivamayuso'nte | nyavivisadvisrvanamasyapadah smasminpade sriharibhadrasurih || 55 || sarasvatadhyanavato'sya yoganidramupetasya muhurttamekam | svapnantaragatya jagatpunana srisarada sadaramityuvaca | 170 || Vasantavilasa of Balachandra p. 3 6. 7. Vastupala. Naranarayananda of Vastupala XVI.38. 8. Vasantavilasa of Balachandra , XIV. 37. r 9. Balacandra, Karuna-vajrayudha of Balachandra-Suri p.2 10. Ibid, Act.V.50. 11. Ibid, Act.V.50 12. Ibid, Act.V.62 13. 14. 142 Ibid, p. 42. Verse No. 125. Vivekamanjari - Tika, Edited by pt. Haragovindadas, Benaras, Samvat. 1975. cf.B.J.Sandesara, Mahamatya Vastupala p.156. 15. 16. Ibid, p. 156. 17. Vasantavilasa of Balachandra 175.