Comprehensive History Of Jainism

SR No.: 022803
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Aseem Kumar Chatterjee
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt Ltd
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 360
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 28 MB

Page 303

DIGAMBARA LITERATURE
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successful of those who have written on this subject. The work is also rich in cultural details and the students of social and cultural history of India can use it with profit. 143 The third published work of Somadeva, the Adhyātmatarangiṇī,144 is also known as the Yogamarga, and as the name indicates, it deals with spiritual matters. A commentary on it was written in the first half of the twelfth century by Gaṇadharakirti.
Among other important works which were written by the Digambara writers in the tenth century AD, the following may be mentioned: Neminiravāṇamahākāvya115 by Vāgbhața, Candraprabhacaritamahākavyal46 by Viranandi, Vardhamānacarita117 by Asaga, Subhāṣitaratnasandoha148 by Amitagati, a contemporary of Muñja, Jambudivapannati119 by Padmanandi, and Pradyumnacaritakavya150 by Mahāsena.
Several works were also written in our period by the Digambara writers in Tamil, Kannada, and other languages. The Tamil Sivakasindāmani,151 written by Tiruttakadeva, is based on the Uttarapurāṇa of Gunabhadra and was written in the tenth century. It is undoubtedly one of the finest poems written in that language. Several Digambara Jaina writers between AD 850 and 1000 are known to have written in Kannada. The earliest of these was Gunavarma I who wrote his Neminathapuraṇa152 in the mid-ninth century AD. The three gems of the Kannada literature of the tenth century were all Digambara Jainas, i.e., Pampa, Ponna, and Ranna. Pampa is the celebrated author of the Adipurāna,153 which is on the first Tīrthamkara, Ponna wrote the Santipurāṇa154 (story of the sixteenth Tirthamkara) and Ranna's fame rests on his Ajitapurāṇa155 (the life-story of the second Tirthamkara). A patron of Ranna was Camuṇḍaraya, the celebrated author of the Camuṇḍarāyapurāṇa.15
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REFERENCES
1. See the passage quoted in N.L. Premi, Jaina Sahitya aur Itihāsa, p. 147, n. 1. See also prastāvanā to I of Satkhanḍagama; for a different view see J.P. Jain, The Jaina Sources of the History of Ancient India, pp. 186 ff.
2. Satkhaṇḍāgama, ed., H.L. Jain, I, pp. 67-72, published in 16 volumes from Amaravati, 1939-58.
3. See J.C. Jain, Prākṛta Sahitya kā Itihasa, p. 275.
4. See Jaina Sahitya kā Bṛhad Itihasa, 4, p. 60; see also Prastāvanā, Satkhanḍāgama, I, pp. 46–53.
5. See in this connection J.P. Jain, op. cit., p. 188; see also JBBRAS, XVII,