Treasury of Jain Tales

SR No.: 006762
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: V M Kulkarni
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre
Publication Year: 1994
Total Pages: 468
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

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to five. As these histories are not connected at the beginning of the story but interlace only at a later stage and as these are not told in a systematic manner or chronological order, the plot as a whole becomes highly involved and so very difficult to follow. But for this serious defect the literary merit of Kuvalayamālä is very high. It ranks high among the masterpieces of the vast kathā literature of the Jains. It presents us with valuable specimens of a number of Prakrit, Apabhramsa and Pais àci dialects. It gives a vivid and graphic picture of Indian life in the eighth century. It is important also from the point of view of the basic ethical values and its wealth of cultural data.
This genre, the dharmakatha, reaches its culmination in Upamitibhava-prapanca kathă, an allegorical Sanskrit romance which presents the manifoldness of existence in a parable. It was composed by Siddharsi in 906 A.D. The poet introduces many stories and sermons in the narrative. He informs us that he chose the allegory in order to attract the readers and that he wrote in Sanskrit with a view to winning over the educated to the Jain doctrine. His language is smooth and clear. His writing reveals Prakritisms and popular expressions. This work enjoyed great popularity among the Jains.
An unknown poet has worked up in his Malayasundari kathā popular fairy-tale themes into a Jain legend. The work is of the nature of a romantic epic.
(viii) Campus
Distinct from these religious romances and romantic epics are the campus in prose and verse imitating the style of Bāna's Kādambari. Foremost among these is the Yasastilaka-campū by the Digambara poet Somadeva Sūri written in about 959 A.D. Poems of the same category are Tilakamañjari by the Svetämbara poet Dhanapala who wrote about 970 A.D., and Gadya-cintāmani by the Digambara poet Vädibhasimha (beginning of the 11th century A.D.). The work deals with the famous legend of