Religion and Culture of the Jains

SR No.: 014007
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: D C Sirkar
Publisher: University of Calcutta
Publication Year: 1973
Total Pages: 168
Language: English
Classification: Seminar & Articles
File Size: 10 MB

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RELIGION AND CULTURE OF THE JAINS
The first thing that strikes a reader of the Harivaṁśa is its similarity with the Kathāsaritsägara which, as we know, is a Sanskrit translation of the now-lost Brhatkathā.10 The romantic exploits of Vasudeva, the father of Kșşņa, will invariably remind one of those of Naravāhanadatta in Somadeva's translation. Some of the heroines of Jinasena II like Angāravati, Vegavati, Bandhumati, Padmāvati, Kalingasenā, etc., also occur in the Kathāsaritsāgara. The enemy of the amorous Vasudeva in the Hariyamsa is a Vidyādhara named Mānasavega whose name occurs prominently in the Kathāsaritsāgara. The only difference between Somadeva and Jinasena II is that the latter describes in a few lines what the former would say in a few hundred verses. We have little doubt that the author of the Harivamśa Purāņa had before him the original Paiśāci version of Guņādhya, which was probably composed in the early centuries of the Christian era.
But it has to be remembered that the successful romantic adventures of Vasudeva cover only a portion of Jinasena's very considerable work which runs to as many as 66 chapters. He has described in greater details the achievements of Kļşņa Vāsudeva and there is very little doubt that, in doing so, he has more or less followed the well-known Vaiṣṇava Harivaṁśa, believed to be an integral part of the Mahābhārata. The description of Dvārakā (Ch. 41), the death of Kamsa at Krşņa's hands (Ch. 36) and the wrestling bout of Kļşņa and his brother with Cāņūra and Mustika (Ch. 36) are all taken from the Vaişņava Harivañía. The destruction of the Vrsnis and the last days of Kșşņa and his brother too are the same as given in the Vişnu Purāņa and the Mahābhārata. Jinasena II,
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10 In this connexion we reproduce below the following sloka from Somadeva (1.10)
yathā mūlar tath=aiv=aitan=na manāg=apy=atikramah/
grantha-vistara-saṁkşepa-mātram bhāṣā ca bhidyatel/ See also in this connexion the Sanskrit introduction of Durgadas and Parab to their edition of this work, p. 1, note. (But the clain that the entire Kathasaritsāgara is an exact translation of Gupādhya's work is absurd.Ed.)