Bruhat Katha kosha

SR No.: 016060
Original Sutra Author: Harishen Acharya
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1943
Total Pages: 566
Language: Prakrit, Sanskrit
Classification: Dictionary & Dictionary
File Size: 16 MB

Page 118

INTRODUCTION
by Krsna himself and only fragments of which are found in the present Mahabharata where the act of killing is atributed to Bhima. That both Kamsa and Jarasaṁdha are to be killed by Kṛṣṇa Vasudeva is specifically mentioned in one of our stories (No. 106. 198, 217). Some of the characters in Nos. 143, 157 etc. figure also in the 4th and 5th Tarangas of the Katha. saritsagara, and they might go back to the original Bṛhatkatha. The Jaina mythology recognises 12 Cakravartins (No. 41. 1.2) with whom are associated cycles of stories specimens of which, connected with Sagara, Sanatkumāra, Subhuma, Harişeņa and Brahmadatta, are found in this work (Nos. 119; 129; 122, 148; 33; 35, 52, 109). Among these Subhuma kills Parasurama; Sagara is well-known in Puranic mythology; and the legends about Brahmadatta are found in Jaina, Buddhist and Hindu works.
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Subsequent to the period of our Kathakosa, that is roughly after the first quarter of the 10th century A. D., the Jaina contributions to Indian literature have been both extensive and interesting. Space prohibits me from tracing the influence of these stories on later authors and noting the common points, wherever available, in different works. It may be added, however, that there are a few stories, occupying just individual sections here, that have later on grown into independent themes on which series of authors have composed their works in different languages. Harişena's Kathakośa being a dated work, the form and the contents of these stories would be of great help to those who want to study their motifs at different stages of Indian literature. Some of the striking tales of this type are those of Karkanda (No. 56), Arhaddasa (No. 93) and Yasodhara (No. 73). The story of Arhaddasa is known later as Samyaktva-kaumudi.
The above review makes it clear that many of the stories have so often appeared and reappeared, with or without variations, in different strata of Jaina literature in particular and Indian literature in general that it is necessary that individual stories, in view of their specific motifs and details, should be selected for intensive study, and their gradual evolution should be marked out at its various stages, separating the basic kernel from the incidental accretions and detached sub-stories. As a preliminary step towards this study, both in the Introduction here and in the Notes at the end, I have tried to put together useful references from different contexts which can be enriched by further studies.
some
iv) Interesting Social, Historical etc. Bits of Information
In this Kathakośa of Harişeņa there is abundant information which would be interesting to a student of Indian religions in general and of Jainism in particular. Some items I have already noted above. This being a dated work of specified locality, the various bits of information of cultural interest have a definite chronological value, though it cannot be claimed that all of them belong only to the age and place of our author. For a student of Indian