Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

Page 105

86
YASASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE
III in the first quarter of the tenth century. It will be out of place to trace here the growth of Sanskrit narrative composition in mixed prose and verse, the origins of which go back to Vedic literature as well as Buddhist writings in Pāli and Sanskrit. There is, however, no doubt that this form of composition became popular in the Deccan in the tenth century in Sanskrit as well as Kanarese literature. Apart from the romances of Trivikrama and Somadeva, the Kudlur grant of the Ganga king Mārasimha, elaborately composed in Sanskrit prose and rerse, and containing a detailed account of the Ganga dynasty, was issued in 963 A. D. about five years after the composition of Somadeva's Yasastilaka, As regards Kanarese literature, Pampa wrote his famous works Adipurāna and Pampa Bhārata in mixed prose and verse in 941 A. D., and the campii style continued to be popular in that literature for a long period after, Among notable later examples of the mixed style may be mentioned Nāgacandra's Pampa Rāmāyana (circa 1105 A. D.) and Nemicandra's Lilāvati (circa 1170 A. D.), the earliest known specimen of the Novel, or genuine work of fiction, of the Kanarese language'.3 Somadeva wrote his Yašastilaka less than two decades after the composition of Pampa's works; and being a native of Karņāțaka, he may have been influenced by the prevailing Kanarese literary style of his time. As we have already pointed out, Pampa was court-poet of Arikesarin II who reigned at Puligere ( Lakshmesvar, Dharwar District ), while Somadeva wrote at Gangadhārā during the reign of one of his successors. Another noteworthy point is that most of the Kanarese writers of the tenth century and after were Jainas, and it is highly probable that they as well as Somadeva were influenced by the example of the great Jaina Prākrit romances in mixed prose and verse, e. g., the Samaräiccakahā of Haribhadra and the Kuvalayamālā of Uddyotana* composed in the eighth century. The extensive allegorical novel Upamitibhavaprapañoā kathā of Siddharşi composed in prose and verse in 906 A. D. is an early example of a Jaina romance written in Sanskrit under similar influences, though not in Kāvya style. Comprehensive Jaina narrative works in Präkrit using prose and verse indiscriminately continued to be written till long after the eighth century, e. g., Gunacandra's Mahāvīracarita (1082 A. D.), Somaprabha's Kumārapalapratibodha (1184
1 Seo Rico: Kongrese Literature. 2 Annual Report of the Mysore Archacological Departmont for 1921. 3 Rice (op. cit.), p. 43. & For Kuvalayamālā seo Bharatiya Vidyā, Vol. II, p. 77 6 Annals of the Bhandarkar 0. R. Institute, Vol. XVI, p.37.