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212
Amrita
The only merit of the work appears to be the putting together of many stories from diverse sources and giving them in a form easy for memorising.
A later work of a more refined nature is the Puspamālā of Hemacandra. He belonged to the Maladārigaccha and was a pupil of Abhayadeva. Of him Rājasekhara tells us that he was originally a royal minister called Pradyumna and was converted to Jainism by Abhayadeva along with his four sons. His co-student Śricandra praises him in the following words. 'Hearing his greatness in preaching the religion, king Siddharāja approached him in the temple of Jina to hear him preaching. He caused Jayasimha to exert greatly to increase the importance of Jainism in Gujarat and in building temples crowned with golden sikharas. Hemacandra visited the holy places of Girnar and satruñjaya and died with the usual method of fasting for seven days. From this it is evident that the literary activity of Hemacandra falls in the reign of the famous king Jayasimha who ruled at Anahilapātana from A. D. 1094 to 1143 A. D. This writer is otherwise famous for his voluminous commentary on the Višesāvasyakabhāsya.
His Puspamālā consists of 550 verses in the gathā metre and deals with some twenty topics of usual interest to the Jain monks and laity. The author appears to have named his work as Upadeśamālā which he compares with a garland of best flowers and hence the popular name to distinguish it from other works bearing the same title. It begins with a salutation to the Jina and then deals with Ahimsā which, according to the author is the best part of the religion of the Jinas (4). Its sequel the Jivadayā is then praised and it is pointed out that those who neglect it wander through the forest of life (8, 12). Then follows the praise of knowledge, conduct and right faith, in which the author indulges in giving many technical details and refers to ancient sages and kings (103). Topics like the begging of alms and the praise of a perfect monk (220) and the transitory nature of this world (444) are also included.
The work distinguishes itself from other works of the like nature by its ornate style and some poetic ability on the part of the poet. While describing the perfect monk he presents us with a series of similes to bring into prominence the various qualities of the monk, but many of them are trite and drawn from the canon. Some of his expressions are happy and concise while use of puns to base the figures of speech is also found (32). At the end the writer expresses the pious wish that his work should receive a cordial welcome for all the time to come.
Chiefly famous for the didactic works is the king-poet Asadha. He was