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HISTORY OF THE
whom he defeated in a discussion, thereby gaining for himself the magnificent title of the Lion who defeated the Elephant in argument. After spreading the faith in many other ways, he died in A.D. 839.
Śīlāṅgāċārya.Passing over other leaders of less importance, we come to Śīlāṅgāċārya,[1] the dates of whose birth and death are uncertain, but who was alive in A.D. 862. He wrote commentaries on each of the eleven Aṅga, but unfortunately only two of these remain.
Abhayadevasūri.In A.D. 1031 a boy of sixteen, named Abhayadevasūri, was made head of the community; he wrote commentaries to supply the place of the missing nine commentaries of Śīlāṅkāċārya.
Hemāċārya.Some sixty years later was born the famous Hemāċārya[2] or Hemaċandrasūri, who became Head or Āċārya in A.D. 1121. He wrote a comparative grammar of six of the Prākṛits, with which Siddharāja, the reigning king of Gujarāt, was so delighted that he placed it before him on an elephant and took it to his treasury in state. The next king, Kumārapāla, was converted to Jainism through Hemāċārya’s influence. This monarch, besides building magnificent temples, endeared himself still more to his Jaina subjects by prohibiting the kilhng of animals throughout his dominions. Under Kumārapāla Jainism became the state religion of Gujarāt, and its head-quarters were no longer to be found in the district of Bihār its birthplace, but were transferred to the dominions of this Jaina king. Hemacarya continued his literary labours throughout his long life, and it is said that before his death in A.D. 1184 he had written 35,000,000 śloka on such differing subjects as religion, history and grammar. As Hemāċārya wrote chiefly in Sanskrit, his name is held in high honour by educated Hindus as well as Jaina. No Āċārya since Hemaċandra has ever wielded so great an