History of Rastrakutas of Malkhed and Jainism

SR No.: 006719
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nagarajaiah Hampa
Publisher: Ankita Pustak
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 374
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 12 MB

Page 138

Sanskrit Literature / 77
Dhavalā, Jayadhavalä as spiritual revealation to man, have had an epic tradition of verbal bequest much preceding their codifications by the austere anchorite. In a bid to salvage the near extinct knowledge of canons, Virasēna and Jinasēna, monk-scholars of Jaina scriptures from the Rāstrakūta empire, embarked upon restoring it for posterity. It was a marathon enterprise spanning more than forty years of tapasya, painstaking commitment.
4.4.4. Dhanañjaya (C. late 8th cent.), a poet of eminence also pioneered Jaina literature in Sanskrit during the reign Nirupama Dhruva. Details of his biography are obscure. His Jiterary accomplishment has won laurels. Acārya Virasēna has quoted, a slöka of Anēkārtha-Nānamāla of Dhanañjaya, in Dhavalā commentary (C. E. 816-17). Since Dasaratha was the preceptor of Dhanañjaya, he was a senior co-student of Jinasena. But Dhanañjaya was not a monk. He remained an house holder observing the six vows prescribed for a Jaina votary.
4.4.4.1. Dhananjaya has authored some works out of which a peom, a lexicon and a stötra kãvya, peom of orison. Vişāpahära-stõtra, a short peom containing only 39 verses, deals with the remarkable effect of prayer to god. A person charged with intense devotion will not succumb even to deadly poison of a snake. The verses of this short poem are composed in Indravajrā metre. .
4.4.4.2. Dhanañjaya-Nāmamāla or AnēkārthaNāmamāla is a small lexicon. It contains 200 stanzas of synonyms, with an appendix of homonyms in 46 verses in the end, both composed in easy flowing style, facilitating to learning by rote.
4.4.4.3. Dhanañjaya is remembered forever for his masterpiece Dvisandhāna Mahākāvya also known as Rāghava-Pāņdaviya, which has embodied his poetic imagination and rich vocabulory. His amazing craftmanship,