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KAVI PARAMEŚVARA OR PARAMEȘTHI
. Dr A. N. Upadhye, Kolhapur.
In the history of Indian literature, there are many celebrated authors who are repeatedly remembered in subsequent works; but neither their works are available to-day, nor do we know any biographical details about them. Kavi Parameśvara or Parameşthi is one of them. In this paper i propose to put together whatever bits of information have been available to me, especially from Kannada and Sanskrit literature.
Eminent Kannada poets like Adi Pampa (c. 911 A. D.), Abhinava rampa (C. 1100 A. D.), Nayasena (1112 A. D.) Aggaļa (1189) and Kamalabhava (c. 1235) respectfully refer to Kavi Paramesthi along with Samantabhadra, the logician poet and Pujyapāda, the grammarian.I Adi Pampa, it may be noted, calls him jagat-prasiddha. Their verses are given below.
श्रीमत्समन्तभद्र - स्वामिगळ जगत्प्रसिद्ध कविपरमेष्ठि-1 स्वामिगळ पूज्यपाद - स्वामिगळ पदंगळीगे शाश्वतपदमं ॥
Adipurāņa (Mysore 1900 ) I. 15. कविपरमेष्ठिगळ गुण स्तवनंगळ पूज्यपादयतिपतिय गुण -। स्तवनंगळोर्मे नालगे-- गे बंद मानवन वाङ्मलं निंदपुदे ॥
Rāmāyaṇa I. 11. श्रीमत्समंतभद्र - स्वामिगळ नेगळ्तेंवेत्त कविपरमेष्ठि -॥ स्वामिगळ पूज्यपाद - स्वामिगळ पदंगळीगे बोधोदयमं ।।
Dharmamrta (Mysore 1924) I.14.
___1_R. Narasimhachary: Karnataka-kavicarita Vol. I. (Bangalore 1924), pp. 2, 4-6.
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समनिके मन्मानसदोळ समंतभदांघ्रिनखरकांतिजलं मत्तमलिन कविपरमेष्ठि - क्रमकमलं पूज्यपादपदनखकुमुदं ॥
Candraprabha-purāņam (Mysore 1951 ) I. 20.
भवहरसमंतभद्रर कविपरमेष्ठिगळ पूज्यपादर कारु – । ण्यवरेण्य दुग्धवार्धियों - ळविरतमिर्केम्म चित्तमत्तमरालं ॥
Santisvara-purana ( Mysore 1912) I. 20.
. Then turning to individual references, Gunavarma II ( c. 1235 A. D.) tells us in his Puspadanta-purāna, I. 26 ( Madras 1933) that Kavi Paramesthi's mouth was beautiful with unparallelled speech, that he was praised by the learned, that he was almost the Para-brahman, and that he was no doubt a purāna-purusa:
निरुपमसरस्वतीसुं -- दरचतुरानन नशेषविबुधस्तुत्यं । परमब्रह्मनेनल् कवि --
परमेष्ठि पुराणपुरुषनैबुदु पुसिये ।। Pārsvapandita ( 1205 A. D.) qualifies him as 'guna-jyestha' or 'pre-eminent in virtues' in his Parivapurana:
निष्ठापरत्वदि पर -- मेष्ठिस्तवनमननूनमं माडि गुण --1 ज्येष्ठनेनिसिर्प कविपर --
मेष्ठिगुणस्तवनममर्गे-दल करणीयं ।। Nemicandra (c. 1170) tells us in his Nemināthapurāņa (Mysore 1914) (1. 15-16 ) that Kavi Parameśvara wrote a purāna glorifying 24 Tirthakaras and that Brahman and Sarasvati were waiting on his glory.
जिनर पुराणंगोळी - दने बरेदौडे बरेदेवैरीभुवनं जी -- यनें बरेंदिरिसिदरिर्प -- तुनाल्कम पागळे सुकविपरमेश्वररं ।। सुकवि परमेष्ठिगळ ना - टकवेनिसिद भुवनवंद्यवरविद्याती - र्थकरत्वपुण्यलक्ष्मिगे सकळश्रुतदेवि यक्षि यक्ष बोम्म ।।
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- Then, still earlier, Civundarāya (978 A. D.) in his Adipurina (Bangalore 1928 ) clearly tells us that Kavi Paramesvara wrote a Trisasti salaki-purusa-purna:
चरितपुराणदोळोदने बरेंदर् बरदिक्किदर् त्रिषष्टिदालाका ---- । पुरुषपुराणमं कवि - परमेश्वररंतु जसके नोतुरुमोळरे ।।,
and in another context (p. 6), he declares that the mahi-puräna was composed formerly by Küci Bhattāraka and Srinandi Muni, aud that his work, namely, the Kannada Cavundaraya Purana only follows the compositions of Kavi Parameśvara, who is called jinagamatilaka, Jinasena and Gunabhadra:
विरचिसिदर मुन्ने महा - पुराणमं नेगळ्द कूचिभट्टारकरूं ।। परम श्रीनदिमुनी - श्वररुं तदनंतरं जिनागमतिलकर ॥ कविपरमेश्वरर् बरदुदं जिनसेनमहामुनीशरी - यवनिगे पेळ्दु माणे गुणभद्रमुनीश्वररेटदै पेठ्दु प - ल्लविसिदुदं त्रिषष्टिपुरुषप्रतिबद्धपुराणमं महो - त्सवदोंळे भव्यकोटिगरियल बरेदं गुणरत्नभूषणं ॥
Gunabhadra, at the end of his Uttarapurāņa (middle of the 9th century A. D. ) informs us that the Adipurāna composed by his teacher Jinasena was based on the gadya-kathi of Kavi Parameśvara:
कविपरमेश्वर-निगदितगद्यकथामातकं पुरोश्चरितम् ।
Jinasena (c. 837 A. D.) also respectfully mentions him as the compiler of the entire purina, possibly under the title Vāgarthasangraha:
स पूज्यः कविभिलोंके कवीनां परमेश्वर : । वागर्थसंग्रहं कृत्स्नं पुराणं यः समग्रहीत् ॥
Adipurāņa I. 60.
Besides these literary references, the Humch inscriptiont of 1077 A. D. mentions Kavi Paramasthi along with a host of Jaina teachers and authors.
. About Jinesena, Gupabhadra etc. see, Premi : Jaina Sahitya aura Itihisa, pp. 282, 497 ff.; also Hiralal : Dhavali, Intro. Amraoti 1939.
+ Epigraphia Carnatica VIII, Nagar No. 35.
O.C.... 48
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Thus we see that Kavi Parameśvara is being respectfully mentioned by various authors from the beginning of the 9th century almost upto the middle of the 13th ceutury A. D. His personality stands before us as that of a famous, worthy authoritative poet with remarkable mastery over expression. He composed a purāna glorifying 63 salākā-purusas or celebrities of the Jaina church. Guṇabhadra says that it was a gadya-katha and that it was used by Jinasena for his Adipurāņa. Jinasena calls it Vāgartha-samgraha; and Cámundarāya used it for his Kannada work. It is a high compliment to the scholastic greatness of Kavi Parameșthi that he is ranked with Samantabhadra and Rūjyapāda whose works have come down to us.
This is all that we glean about Kavi Parameśvara's personality from the casual references of subsequent authors, some of whom had actually, used his work. His date is uncertain, *a But he definitely flourished earlier than Jinasena who finished his Jayadhavală in 837 A. D.
As yet we have not been able to trace the work of Kavi Paramešvara in any Ms. library; but the chances of tracing it are not remote, because many collections in the South are not fully explored.
Lately, the section of śāntipurāņa from the Cāmundarāyapurāṇa has been published,t and we are lucky to find there that Cāmundarāya has given some quotations attributed to Kavi Parameśvara. I reproduce below the extracts almost as they are:
कविपरमेश्वरर वृत्त ।
रामत्वं गणधृत्वमप्यभिमतं लोकान्तिकत्वं तथा षट्खण्डप्रभुता सुखानुभवनं सर्वार्थसिद्धयादिषु । इंद्रत्व महिमादिभिश्च सहितं प्राप्तं न संसारिभिः
तत्प्राप्तो भवहेतुसंसृतिलताच्छेदे कुतः संयमः ।। कविपरमेश्वरर श्लोक ।
कषायोद्रेककालुष्यं व्रतदर्शनसत्तपः । दूषयत्यचिराद्राजन् ततः क्रोधादि वर्जयेत् ।। त्यागेन लोभं क्षमया प्रकोपं
मानं मृदुत्वेन मनोहरेण ।
(A) R. Narasimhachary would like to put Kavi Paramegvara between Samantabhadra and Pujyapāda, and he gives to him a tentative date, viz. 550 A. D. This is just a conjecture; and the earlier limit of his dato is not at all fixed. We want more evidence.
† Kannada Sahitya Parişat Patrikā, vol. 29, Mareh-June 1944, pp. 63, 58,
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Kavi Parameśvara Or Parameṣṭhi
वृत्तेन मायामृजुनाभिवृद्धिं
नरेंद्र हन्यात्परलोककांक्षी |
स्थूलेषु दयां प्राणिषु करोति सूक्ष्मेषु विलसदनुकम्पाम् । आरम्भहतकर्मसु गृहाश्रमो निष्प्रतिज्ञानः ॥ चरणादवनाळ्मया विषया नानादपि प्रजासुवदा । तदवनये वर्धितां न चिरं संसारभाक् नृपती | [१]* हिंसाः प्राणिनोऽन्यायाद्राजदण्डेन वारयन् । संचिनोति व्रती पुण्यमहिंसायाः समार्जितम् ॥ अल्पानल्पापराधेषु तद्योग्यानपि दण्डयन् । खचरेन्द्रमहापुण्यं समाधत्ते नृपः कृती ॥ गुंदहिंसाव्रतमनरपि
तत्सुसाधुवचः सत्यं प्राणिपीडापराङ्मुखम् । येन सावद्यकर्माणि न स्पृशन्ति भयादिव ॥ नाग्निर्दहत्युच्चशिखाकलापस्तीव्रं विषं निर्विषतामुपैति । शस्त्रं शतद्योतविभूषणत्वं सत्येन किं ते न भवेदभीष्टम् ॥ गुंदु सत्यव्रतमनरपि
परस्वार्जनमन्यायं प्रकाशस्तेनमुच्यते । नृपते चोरथंल्लोके वञ्चकस्तेन संस्मृतः ॥ इह जन्मनि तद्राजन् व्यक्तमख्यातिवर्धनम् । विचित्रदुःखसंपादि परत्र च विशेषतः ॥ अधर्मसंग्रहोऽन्यायान्नृपस्यान्यस्वसंग्रहः । प्रजाविद्वेषणीयश्च जायते येन कर्मणा ॥ दस्ते यवतमनरपि
परदारपरावृत्त वर्तते यः क्षितीश्वरः ।
समग्विहितकरकमलमुकुलैर्देवैरपि स प्रणमनीयः ॥ [?]†
स्वदारगतभ्येत्य मात्रयानुभवन्नृपः ।
भवेद् स्वार्थपरः कामं जनानां चापदेशकः ॥
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We are not in a position to state whether only the opening verse of the larger extract belongs to Kavi Parameşṭhi or all the verses are to be attributed to him. All the quotations are in Sanskrit and in a metrical form. One verse is very obscure and one line metrically defective. Cavuṇḍara ya says that he has used Kavi Parameśvara's work; it is very good of him that he quotes by mentioning the author's name.
This verse is apparently corrupt and obscure. ↑ Metrically defective.
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Kavi Parameśvara's work, as the quotations indicate, was in Sanskrit and in verses. There is one difficulty in accepting this that Gupabhadra has described Kavi Parameśvara'e work as gadyakathā. Possibly it was in prose with some verses here and there, and for convenience Camundarāya might have quoted only the verses.
If not the whole work of Kavi Parameśvara, at least a couple of quotations are available to us. And I do hope, some day, 'like'the "Varāngacarita of Jālila, Kavi Parameśvara's puräna would be discovered...
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SAMARAMIYANKA KAHĀ OF HARIBHADRA
Dr. A. N. Upadhye, Kolhapur.
Uddyotanasūri, the author of Kuvalayamāla ( completed on 21st March, 779, A. D.) was a disciple of Haribhadra; and any information he gives about his guru deserves our special attention. He speaks about his guru thus in the introductory' verses of the Kuvalayamálā :*
जो इच्छइ भवविरहं भवविरहे को ण वंदए सुअणो । समयसयसस्थगुरुणो. समरमियंका कहा जस्स ॥
Clearly this is a respectful reference to Haribhadrat who is well-known as virahu ika and who is proved to be the guru of Uddyotana. According to Uddyotana, then, Haribhadra composed Samaramiyaikā kahā which has been all along rendered into Sanskrit as Samara-mrgānka Kathā.
The statement of Uddyotana is quite clear, and naturally various questions can be raised. Is it that Haribhadra wrote a Samara-mrgānkā-katha besides his famous Samarāditya--kathā; or is it that the phrase samara-miyamki kahi only refers to the present Samaraicca-kaha ? The first question has to be answered in the negative, because no other source, as far as I know, has attributed an additional work, Samara-mrgārka by name, to Haribhadra. A comparison of the concluding verse of the Samarāditya Katha, which runs thus,
जं विरइऊण पुण्णं महाणुभावचरियं मए पत्तं । तेण इहं भवविरहो होउ सया भवियलोयस्स ।।
with the verse of Kuvalayamālā, quoted above, hardly leaves any doubt that Uddyotana has the present Samarāicca-kahā in view. As long as we render the title in Sanskrit as Samara-mrgārkā Kathā, we will be forced to find out how mugika can mean aditya, and wheider the Sanskrit language supplies any reference to the effect that migänka did mean 'sun' as well, beside the pormal meaning 'moon'.
* I have on hand a critical edition of this important Prakrit campû based on the Ms. material so kindly entrusted to me by Shri Jinavijayaji, I am quoting this verse from a transcript.
Seo Jocobi's Iutro. to his ud of the Samaräiccakaha, BI. No. 169, Calcutta 1926.
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________________ 382 13TH ALL-INDIA ORIENTAL CONFERENCE : PRAKRIT & JAINISM There is no doubt that Uddyotana has in view the present Samaraiccakaha, and as I shall show presently, the phrase samara miyanka kaha signifies the same. But the various difficulties about this problem are due to the wrong Sanskrit rendering of this phrase, namely, Samara-mpgarka katha. In my opinion, the real Sanskrit rendering should be Samara-mitarka katha, which means the story of Arka or Aditya, limited, qualified or prefixed by Samara, i. e., the Samaraditya-katha. The equation of amka with arka can be explained. In Prakrit we have a similar phenomenon in Karkota-kankoda (Hema. VIII. i. 26 ); in the Tiloyapannatti both akka and amka are used for arka ( see VII.295-96, 345-46 ); and the famous royal name Vikramanka is just a phonetic variation of Vikramarka, i. e., Vikramaditya. So we can safely conclude that Uddyotana's phrase Samara-miyamka kaha is to be rendered into Sanskrit as Samaramitarka katha, and it stands for the Samaraditya katha of Haribhadra.