Jain Journal 1999 10

SR No.: 520136
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publication Year: 1999
Total Pages: 66
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, India_Jain Journal, & India
File Size: 4 MB

Page 26

BANDYOPADHYAY: A STUDY ON THE JAINA-PURĀNAS
93
the principal characters. The first 99 Sandhis were composed by the poet Svayambhu and the rest 13 Sandhis by his son Tribhuvana. The yadava-kanda of the book describes the birth, childhood, marriage etc. of the lord Kṛṣṇa. Kuru-kända describes the birth of the Kauravas and the Pandavas, their education, mutual conflict, dice-playing and exile. The yuddha-kāṇḍa describes the fighting in the Kurukṣetra. The poet himself says that the compostion of this poem took 6 years 3 months and 11 days.
The MS of this poem has been kept in the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute of Pune.
Jinasena and Gunabhadra, of the 9th century A.D. composed their poems in Sanskrit with the same title for their works as-Mahāpuraṇa.
Puspadanta, another Jaina-poet, composed his poem in Apabhramsa with the same name Mahāpurāṇa as the title of his work. He is a famous and highly talented poet of the 10th century A.D. He was a Brahmin belonging to the Kasyapa Gotra. His father was Kesavabhaṭṭa and the mother was Mugdhādevī. Puṣpadanta was originally a devotee to the lord Siva and later on he was converted to Jainism. The Mahāpurāṇa of Puspadanta contains the description of the condition of the poet's contemporary society, culture, religion, philosophy, art and architecture. In it the Hindu God Ramacandra has been worshipped together with Rṣavadeva. This Mahāpurāņa is divided into two independent parts-1) Adipurānṇa and 2) Uttarapurāṇa It describes the story of the 63 great personalities of Jaina religion. The first part contains the life-story of the first Tirthankara Ṛṣavadeva. The second part contains the story of the 23 Tirthankaras and their contemporary great personalities like the Nārāyaṇa, Pratinārāyaṇa, Balabhadra etc.
The Adipurāna possesses 80 Sandhis and the Uttarapurāṇa possesses 42 Sandhis. The total number of verses of both the parts combined together are twenty thousand. In the Uttarapurana the story of the Rāmāyana and that of the Harivamsa have been mixed to give a new shape.
The MSS. of this Mahāpurāṇa of Puṣpadanta has been kept in the L.D. Institute, Ahmedabad.
There are a considerable number of Jaina poets who composed their Purāṇa-works in the light of the story of Valmiki and have preferred the name 'Padma Purana' as the title of their works. For the purpose of composition and bringing novelty to the theme of their