________________
38
प्राकृतसर्वस्वम् । Puruşottamadeva. Moreover, if we take 1475 A. D. to be the date of his birth, on calculating we see that his age by the time of composing PS would be at least 85 to 87 years, and to compose a technical treaties like PS in so ripe an age looks improbable though not impossible. So his probable date 1490–1565 A. D. is satisfactoy from all aspects.
To sum up: Mārkandeya Miśra, the author of DVM and Mārkaņdeya Kavindra, the author of PS are one and the same person. He was the son of Mangaladeva born of Kāšgapa Brahmin family and a constant companion of Puruşottamadeva, son of Kapilendradeva. He completed his DVM while Pratāprudradeva, the son of Puruşottamadeva, was ruling. He completed his PS during the reign of Mukundadeva, the last independent Hindu King of Orissa, and lived at that time in Virapratāpapura. Besides these two works he claims the authorship of Vilāsavatī sattaka in his PS, which has not yet come to light. It seems he was a prolific writer and was endowed with outstanding poetic merit.
SECTION II 1 The Definition of the word Prākrta. 9. Let us now study the word Prākrta in the light of the interpretations given by the orthodox grammarians and 'rhetoricians. By the term " Prākrta ", they usually understand a multitude of languages whose common origin is attributed to Sanskrit. Therefore they generally derive the word from prakrti which means * basis'. This basis, according to thein, is no other than
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
