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 494

476 STUDIES IN JAIN LITERATURE S. P. Pandit explains away Vakpati's partiality for long compounds 'as a vice of the age' and adds in his defence that we must not judge him independently of what the scholarship of his age considered as essential and beautiful56. The fact, however, remains that the major portion of the poem is difficult to comprehend even for advanced students of Prakrit without the help of Sanskrit commentary. N. G. Suru's comments regarding the pompous style (of a major portion) of Gaudavaho are apposite : "When one reads portions of the Poem given in an ornate, high-flown style, full of long compounds, one gets the impression that this is all Sanskrit Prakritised by the poet to cater to the literary tastes of his times. It is Prakrit distorted...He probably first put his ideas in a Sanskrit draft...and then dressed them in a Prakrit garb in verse57." 9. Mention of Prakrit Literature in Alamkara Works Bhamahas8 speaks of three literatures : Sanskrit, Prakrit and Apabhramsa. Dandis' speaks of four by adding Misra to Bhamaha's list. Rudrata alludes to six : 1. Prakrit, 2. Sanskrit, 3. Magadhi, 4. Paisaci, 5. Suraseni (= Sauraseni) and. Apabhramsa. Rudrata61 quotes some of his own Prakrit verses in his Kavyalamkara. It is Anandavardhana62 who, for the first time, sets the tradition of freely quoting Prakrit verses. He quotes some forty five, a few of his own composition, and others from well-known works, to illustrate various types of Dhvani, Alamkara, etc. Abhinavagupta, his celebreated commentator follows his lead in his Locana. Dhanika, the well-known commentator of Dasarupaka quotes some 26 Prakrit verses in his Avaloka. The distinction of quoting hundreds of Prakrit verses in his Sarasvatikanthabharana and Srngaraprakasa however, goes to Bhoja63. The first work contains over 350 and the second, about 1650 Prakrit verses. Among other reputed Alamkarikas, we find Kuntaka, Mahimabhatta, Mammata, Ruyyaka, and his commentator, Jayaratha, Hemacandra, Sobhakara and Visvanatha quote 15, 28, 64, 15, 38, 80, 163 and 23 Prakrit verses respectively. Some of these are reproduced from Dhvanyaloka and Locana, A large number of verses cited by Bhoja in his two treatises are repetitions. 10. No Separate Work on Prakrit Poetics : In the History of Prakrit Literature we come across works on Prakrit Grammar, Prakrit Metrics, Prakrit Lexicons, but not on Prakrit Poetics. In his Index of authors and works on Sanskrit Poetics to The History of Sanskrit Poetics, P. V. Kane refers to a solitary work Alamkaradarpana (anonymous) in Prakrit, consisting of 134 slokas (to be precise, gathas) treating of poetic figures. Catalogue of Sanskrit And Prakrit Manuscripts, Jesalmer Collection 64 gives a