Kavi Paramesvara Or Paramessthi

SR No.: 269352
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: A N Upadhye
Total Pages: 8
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 428 KB

Page 4

378 13TH ALL-INDIA ORIENTAL CONFERENCE : PRAKRIT & JAINISM
Thus we see that Kavi Parameśvara is being respectfully mentioned by various authors from the beginning of the 9th century almost upto the middle of the 13th ceutury A. D. His personality stands before us as that of a famous, worthy authoritative poet with remarkable mastery over expression. He composed a purāna glorifying 63 salākā-purusas or celebrities of the Jaina church. Guṇabhadra says that it was a gadya-katha and that it was used by Jinasena for his Adipurāņa. Jinasena calls it Vāgartha-samgraha; and Cámundarāya used it for his Kannada work. It is a high compliment to the scholastic greatness of Kavi Parameșthi that he is ranked with Samantabhadra and Rūjyapāda whose works have come down to us.
This is all that we glean about Kavi Parameśvara's personality from the casual references of subsequent authors, some of whom had actually, used his work. His date is uncertain, *a But he definitely flourished earlier than Jinasena who finished his Jayadhavală in 837 A. D.
As yet we have not been able to trace the work of Kavi Paramešvara in any Ms. library; but the chances of tracing it are not remote, because many collections in the South are not fully explored.
Lately, the section of śāntipurāņa from the Cāmundarāyapurāṇa has been published,t and we are lucky to find there that Cāmundarāya has given some quotations attributed to Kavi Parameśvara. I reproduce below the extracts almost as they are:
कविपरमेश्वरर वृत्त ।
रामत्वं गणधृत्वमप्यभिमतं लोकान्तिकत्वं तथा षट्खण्डप्रभुता सुखानुभवनं सर्वार्थसिद्धयादिषु । इंद्रत्व महिमादिभिश्च सहितं प्राप्तं न संसारिभिः
तत्प्राप्तो भवहेतुसंसृतिलताच्छेदे कुतः संयमः ।। कविपरमेश्वरर श्लोक ।
कषायोद्रेककालुष्यं व्रतदर्शनसत्तपः । दूषयत्यचिराद्राजन् ततः क्रोधादि वर्जयेत् ।। त्यागेन लोभं क्षमया प्रकोपं
मानं मृदुत्वेन मनोहरेण ।
(A) R. Narasimhachary would like to put Kavi Paramegvara between Samantabhadra and Pujyapāda, and he gives to him a tentative date, viz. 550 A. D. This is just a conjecture; and the earlier limit of his dato is not at all fixed. We want more evidence.
† Kannada Sahitya Parişat Patrikā, vol. 29, Mareh-June 1944, pp. 63, 58,