Bruhat Katha kosha

Author(s): Harishen Acharya,
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

Page 68

INTRODUCTION
memorable storehouse of a lot of heroic legends, popular stories, edifying narratives extended over many births, and sectarian and didactic tales. Many of the Akhyānas, such as those of Cārudatta, Agadadatta, Pippalada, Sagara princes, Nārada, Parvata, Vasu, Saņamkumära etc., which are so popularly repeated in later literature, are already there in the Vasudevahindi nearly in the same form. The stories like that of Kadārapinga, who is well-known as a voluptuous character, can be traced back to this text; the motive remains the same, though the names associated with the story are different. The Harivamśapurāņa of Jinasena in Sanskrit and that of Dhavala in Apabhramsa share a good deal of common ground with the Vasudevahindi. Jinasena's text, it is remarkable, presents many details which can be more
legated to a work dealing with the lives of 63 Salākāpuruşas. Under this type may be included hundreds of Jaina works, in prose or poetry, in various languages: some of them deal with the lives of individual religious heroes such as Jivandhara, Yasodhara, Karakandu, Nāgakumāra and Srīpāla ; then there are edifying tales of pious house-holders and ladies that devoted their life to the observance of certain vows and religious practices; there are short biographies of ascetic heroes well-known in early literature and lastly there are tales of retribution, illustrating the rewards of good and bad acts here and elsewhere. What matter in these stories are the motives and the doctrinal preachings. Some heroes are drawn from earlier literature, some from popular legends, and some names may be even imaginary: the setting, however, given to all these is legendary. This category includes many Kathās, Akhyānas and Caritras in Sanskrit, Präkrit or Apabhraíba; their authors mind only the narration of the events and their style is epical. There are some notable examples like the Gadya. cintamani, Tilakamañjarī, Yaśastilakacampů etc. which are fine specimens
gh poetic ability and ornate expression. It is an essential qualification of a Taina monk that he should be able to narrate various stories ; naturally many Jaina monks, gifted with poetic inclinations, have richly contributed to this branch.
The third type marks an interesting path in Indian literature: it is the religious tale presented in a romantic form. The Tarangalola of Pädalipta in Prākrit is lost, but its epitome in Sanskrit, the Tarangavati, shows that it might have possessed engrossing literary qualities. Then there is the Samarāiccakahā which is a magnificent prose romance composed by the poetic and literary genius of Haribhadra almost from a string of traditional names to illustrate how Nidäna or remunerative hankering involves the soul into long Saṁsāra. The Upamitibhavaprapañcā kathā of Siddharşi is an elaborate allegory worked out with much skill and care, and can be put under this type. Sometimes imaginary tales ! an excuse for attacking the other religions, their doctrines and mythology. This tendency is explicitly seen as early as the Vasudevahindi, but the ways adopted there are straightforward. Haribhadra's Dhurtākhyāna and the Dharmaparikşās of Harişeņa, Amitagati and Vịttavilăsa have shown how