Studies in Jainism

SR No.: 006565
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta
Publisher: Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta
Publication Year: 1997
Total Pages: 182
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 11 MB

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STUDIES IN JAINISM with this poet. Padmanandi, if he is not Kunļa-Kundācārya of the first century A.D. who had the same surname: has the honour of remaining entirely obscure. Gunabhadra is a familiar name in Jaina literature. An author by name Sakalakirti is known to have lived in the 15th centuryga A.D., but he is not known to be a writer of any Jaina Rāmāyana. So it is not possible to say who this traditional Sakalakirti was. The Kannada writers mentioned by Devacandra are very well-known and it is needless to dwell on them. One thing, namely that the Rāmāyaṇas said to have been written by Māghanandi and Nayasena are not now extant, may however, be noted.
From the above examination, it is clear that a fairly considerable part of this tradition is supported by Jaina literary history. Though many of the works have not survived, those of Ravisena and Gunabhadra are still existing. It is indeed quite strange why Vimalasūri, the earliest writer so far known of the Jaina Rāmāyana, and a host of other names such as those of the encyclopaedic Hemacandra and Caumuha, author of Paumacaria in Prakrit, are missing in the above list. Probably Devacandra was not aware of them. Be this as it may, the heritage of the Jaina Rāmāyaṇas that we have is "truly plenteous."
The attitude of some of these Jaina writers towards the Valmiki Rāmāyana is plainly set forth by Vimalasuri and his close follower Ravişena. Though it is mainly religious, it is also full of artistic possibilities. Vimalasūri wrote his Paumacaria, according to his own statement, five hundred and thirty years after the death of Mahāvīra, 10 i.e., about the 3rd or 4th tear of the Christian era, since the Nirvāņa of Mahāvīra is generally accepted to have taken place in 527 B.C." As far as our present knowledge of Jaina literature
10. Ota ATHHAT SHHT) athaf HACIA
वीरे सिद्धिमुवसये तओनिवद्धमिमं चरिअं ॥ But this date is questioned by some scholars like Jacobi (Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, VII, 467) and others
(ABORI., Vol. XV, Parts I & II; POC., VII, 109). 11. Heart of Jainism, 43.