Sruta Sarita

SR No.: 001940
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre
Publication Year: 2001
Total Pages: 310
Language: English, Prakrit, Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Articles
File Size: 18 MB

Page 89

80
ŚRUTA-SARITA
For Tarangavai the main source was Pādalipta (see under 218). According to Dr. Bhayani, many gāthās have been included here as they were in Padalipta's Kahā. So also must be the case with Rāmāyana, Harivaṁsa and such other stories, as in those days plagiary was not regarded as a vice. In these matters, originality was not considered as a great virtue, and authors were interested in narrating such things which would help the readers to enlighten their moral life. Their purpose was not to get any economical gain for themselves.
Contents of the K
Bhadreśvara's Kis mostly written in Prakrit but verses in Prakrit and Sanskrit are scattered here and there. Generally, along with the present lifestories of the heroes, their previous and future births are also narrated. Though the purpose of the author is only to write a narrative work giving the gist of salākāpurusas' lives (caria-sāra), the K is a huge narrative work (yet unfinished!) on Jaina (Universal) History16. Further than that, these biographies are interspersed with a great number of independant illustrative stories. Here is the beginning of the K. :
namiūņa nāhi-jaņiam deva-sarassai-gurūņa māhappam viraemi caria-sāram Kahävalim abuha-suha-bohaṁ (1)
dhamm'attha-kama-mokkhā puris'atthā te a suttia jehim padhamam iha bemi te ccia Risah'esara-Bharahacakki tti (2) Risaha-sāmi-Bharaha-cakkavatti-kahā bhannai... etc.
Thus it starts with the life-stories of Rsabha, the first Tirthankara and his son Bharata, the first Cakravartin.
Following the ĀvCū”?, Bhadreśvara begins the story of Rsabha by first narrative his previous birth as Dhana Satthavāha. Vibhuhānanda story is included under a dramatic form in the Caup 18, while the K tells it in a versified form . As for the ĀvCū, it does not take notice of it, for Rsabha's previous birth as Mahābala is not discussed. The K writes :
tao pavisai Haragana-nado.... samvega-rasāyanam Vibuhānandam nāma nādayam ti Nadayakahā bhannai,
and at the end of the kahā :
nādayaṁ ti gayam 20.
These portions have been quoted as a sample showing Bhadreśvara's style of writing. The limits of the various kahās are precised by the introductory