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

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135. 1); and from earlier discussions1 it is clear that it is to be identified with one of the ancient kingdoms of Karnataka, through which flowed Kaveri and Kapini, the capital of which was Kirtipura or the present Kittur on the Kapini, and which lay to the south of the present Mysore state including the Heggaḍdevanakote and other Talukas in it. The Punnâța-samgha must have derived its name from this territory. It is really significant that, so far as I know, there has come to light no inscription in the South which mentions this Samgha. In all probability, an ascetic group that hailed from Punnǎța and settled down at Vardhamanapura and round about became famous as Punnaṭa-samgha there. In the south, originally it was perhaps known as Kittura-samgha, a name derived from the capital of Punnǎța country, which is mentioned in one of the Sravana Belgola inscriptions of c. Saka 622. Besides our Harişena, the only author that mentions Bṛhat- or simply Punnata. samgha or gana is Jinasena who finished his Harivamsa at the same Vardhamana nagara in A. D. 783, just 148 years earlier than this Kathakosa. We do not know much about this Samgha*; but the facts given by Jinasena and Harişena show that it had a sound tradition of spiritual ancestry, and it was already established at Vardha. manapura and round about by the beginning of the 8th century A. D.
INTRODUCTION
A few facts, which go to indicate the possibility of Punnatasamgha hailing from the South, may be noted here: Jainism was a powerful religion of Karnataka and round about especially in the second half of the first millennium of the christian era; and it enjoyed a good deal of royal patronage under different dynasties. Some of the Karnataka kings like Pulikesin II (A. D. 608 onwards) of the Western Chalukya dynasty conquered the Laṭas, the Gurjaras of Broach etc., and a collateral branch of the Chalukyas was founded in Gujarata. The Jaina poet Ravikirti (A. D. 634) enjoyed the favour of Pulikisin II. Vikramaditya II invaded Cutch, Sorath and Broach. Some of the kings of the Raṣṭrakūta dynasty had close contacts with Gujarata. At the time of Kakkarāja II a separate Rāṣṭrakūta principality was establi shed in Gujarata; and Amoghavarsa I, whose partiality towards Jainism is
1
Rice: Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions pp. 2f., R. Narasimhacharya E. C. II pp. 37, 73; B. A. Saletore: The Ancient Kingdom of Punnata, Indian Culture, vol. III, 2, pp. 303-17; M. G. Fai: Rulers of Punnata, Festschrift Prof. P. V. Kane, Poona 1941, pp. 308-26.
2 Epigraphia Carnatica II, No. 81.
3 Published in the Manikachandra D. Jaina Granthamala, vols. 31 and 33.
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4 Pt. Premiji's views about the relation of Punnaṭasamgha with Dravida and Nandisamgha are mere conjectures. See also his Jaina Sahitya aura Itihāsa, pp. 420-33.
Amitasena, the grand-teacher of Jinasena, is called pavitra-punnāṭa-gaṇāgranīr gani. The phrase vyutsṛst apara-sangha-samtati perhaps implies its isolation from its co-related groups.
6 Smith: The Early History of India pp. 423f.; Banerji: Prehistoric, Ancient and Hindu India pp. 204f.; Saletore: Mediaeval Jainism chap, 2 etc.; Sharma: Jainism and Karnataka Culture, chap. 1.