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 186

Kannada Literature/125
Basically, Bhrājisnu is gifted with poetic craftsmanship. A born genius, he conferred literary dignity on the spoken dialect of Kannada language by adopting it to the highest purposes of literay art. Pondering on the vanity of riches, the uncertainty of life, the spiritual previleges of Nirgrantha philosophy, Bhrājişņu effectively drives the reader to live lives of detachment and sobriety, and to turn to introspection. The call to give up the terrestrial interests is so powerfully portrayed, with illustrations of the ideal life of the ascetics, that it has the unmatched tranquilizing effect on the reader.
5.4.5. When most of the authors around him were busy in writing their works in Sanskrit, Bhrājisņu opted to write in Kannada. When his contemporary authors were after the verses in different metres, Bhrājişņu preferred prose, that. too a pithy Kannada which has no match to it in the entire hoard of Kannada works. Kannada prose saw its apogee in this work. The author has exploited the grandeur, brilliance, elegance and other possibilities of Kannada prose; it is almost a work of prose-poem.
5.4.5.1. Even piquant situations, like the wife or mother lamenting over the seperation of her husband or son, the prince leaving the entire property and accepting the vows of an ascetic, are carved to perfection in chaste Kannada language. For Bhrājişņu language is tool, a brush to paint, a chisel to carve the wax and wane of the profane life, which can be used as a ladder to reach a state of eternal bliss. It does not mean that there are no limitations in the work. For example there are repetitions, which are justifiable. If every story is treated as a seperate entity, the question of repitition does not arise. There are some portions, often an entire paragraph, loaded with religious sermons and with Prakrit gāthās and Sanskrit ślākas. On the whole, Bhrājişnu's style is less Sanskrit - ridden and more Prakrit oriented.
5.4.5.2. Following is the format of Ārādhanā Karnāța -