Studies in Jain Literature

SR No.: 001868
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: V M Kulkarni
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre
Publication Year: 2001
Total Pages: 114
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Literature, & Story
File Size: 14 MB

Page 491

PRAKRIT VERSES IN SANSKRIT WORKS ON POETICS 473 Abhinavagupta explains in his commentary, Locana, that he invented the episodes like those of Parijataharana and introduced them in his Harivijaya although they have no basis in the Itihasa48. Kuntaka mentions Sarvasena next in order to Kalidasa as a poet of the Sukumara (graceful), popularly known as Vaidarbhi, style of composition49 Although Hemacandra assumes Sarvasena to have composed the galitakas, he, following Bhoja, mentions the view that some literary critics regarded these galitakas as interpolations made by self-styled Pandits. If that view is correct Hemacandra's criticism loses all its force. But for this single critical reference Hemacandra is, like Bhoja, all praise for Sarvasena and his Harivijaya. Like Bhoja he mentions Harivijaya with Ravanavijaya and Setubandha as the three well-known Prakrit mahakavyas, and mentions it approvingly several times with other well-known Sanskrit and Prakrit kavyas, while illustrating the salient features of a mahakavya. Bhoja shows his high esteem for Sarvasena's Harivijaya by drawing on it for exquisite examples on more than forty five occasions in the course of his exposition of poetics. Banabhatta eulogizes Pravarasena's Setubandha, like Hala Satavahana's (Gatha-) Kosa, in equally glowing terms : Pravarasena's fame bright like the white water lily, crossed over to the other shore of the ocean by Setu (1. bridge; 2. his Setukavya composed in Prakrit) like the army of monkeys, glorified with Kumuda, a Commander-inchief of monkeys, crossed over to the other shore of the ocean50. It is held by some that the Setubandha was composed by Kalidasa and that Pravarasena was only the patron of that great poet. This tradition itself linking Pravarasena's Setubandha with the name of Kalidasa speaks volumes for its high literary merit. * Dandi, the renowned author of Kavyadarsa, bestows high praise on Setubandha when he says : "The Maharastri is the best of all Prakrits. Setubandha (and other poetic compositions) composed in this Prakrit are verily an ocean of jewel-like subhasitas (fine witty sayings)."51 Two centuries before the Harivijaya of Sarvasena was appreciated by Anandavardhana, the Setubandha was extolled by eminent writers like Bana and Dandi. This fact clearly shows that Setubandha was regarded as the best among the Prakrit mahakavyas. That Setubandha of Pravarasena was well known in literary circles in Stud.-60