Studies in Jainology Prakrit Literature and Languages

SR No.: 001597
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: B K Khadabadi
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy
Publication Year: 1997
Total Pages: 460
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Literature, & Language
File Size: 22 MB

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Studies in Jainology, Prakrit
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possibly to convince and propagate their religious tenets in Sanskrit-knowing circles and also to expand their influence over rival groups and others by composing worthy works of secular nature too. There also arose a situation when Sanskrit was preferred to Prakrit as a literary medium. Shri K.M.Munshi, observes: “The revoli in favour of using Sanskrit as against Prakrit, headed by Siddhasena Divakara (C.533 A.D.) was an attempt to raise the literaiure and the thought of the Jainas to the high intellectual level attaincd by those of the Brāhmins. This revolt naturally met with considerable opposition from the orthodox Sädhus."
Moreover wherever the Jaina tcachers inoved and settled down they adopted the language of the soil, cultivated it and produced in it excellent works of varied interests. Tamil and Kannada literatures stand out as classical examples of this Jaina scat in South India, whereas Apabhramsa (the forerunner of the New Indo-Aryan language), Hindi, Rajasthani and Gujarati, hold out this fact to a notable extent in North India. Thus in the long cultural history of India, the contribution of the Jainas to Indian literature and thought can be seen through the media of Prakrit (Ardhamagadhi, Jaina saurasenī, Jaina Mahāratri and Apabhramsa) and Sanskrit, through Hindi, Rajasthani, Gujarati in North India and Tamil and Kannada in South India. And this contribution, as assessed by eminent scholars like Winternitz,' is of no mean value.
Jaina Literature in South Indian Languaged :
The beginning and growth of Jaina literature in South Indian languages is invariably connected with the advent and prosperity of Jainism in South India. According to a well-known South Indian tradition, Jainism entered into South India with the great migration of the Jaina Sangha, headed by the Srutakevali Bhadrabahu and accompanied by his royal disciplc Candragupta, who left Madhyādesa owing to the twelve year famine, moved to the South and had their first colony at Kalbappu (Sravanabelgola) in C.300 B.C. Then a part of the Sangha under Visakhācārya moved fruther to the
Tamil country. But an evidence of the existence of Jainism in