Bruhat Katha kosha

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

Page 69

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BRHAT-KATHAKOSA
skilfully the incredible legends of Hindu mythology could be ridiculed through an imaginary tale.
The fourth type is represented by semi-historical Prabandhas etc. After lord Mahāvīra, there flourished patriarchs, remarkable saints, outstanding authors, royal patrons and merchant-princes who served the cause of Jaina church in different contexts and centuries. The succeeding generations of teachers have not allowed all these to fall into oblivion. We see how Nandisūtra offers salutations to eminent patriarchs; Harivamsa and Kathavali mention the various teachers after Mahavira; and the hymns like the Rṣimandala enumerate the names of saints: all these elements have given rise to a large mass of literature in later centuries, and the Parisiṣṭaparvan, Prabhavakacarita and Prabandhacintāmaņi are the typical examples. It is true that the historian has to glean out facts from their legendary associations. Like the great teachers, the Jaina holy places also are glorified in works like the Tirthakalpa.
The last type is represented by compilations of stories or the Kathakosas. We have seen how some of the canonical texts, Niryuktis, Paippas, Aradhana texts etc. refer to illustrative and didactic stories, exemplary legends and ascetic tales. Other texts like the Uvaesamālā, Upadesapada etc. do continue this tendency. This required the commentators to supply these stories in full: sometimes older Prakrit stories are preserved in Sanskrit commentaries; and at times the commentators themselves wrote these stories, based on earlier material, in Sanskrit either in prose or verse or in a mixed style. This has made some of the commentaries huge repositaries of tales; and we know how rich in stories are the various commentaries on the Avaśyaka, Uttaradhyayana etc. These stories have got a definite moral purpose to be propagated, and as such teachers and preachers could use them independently, without any specific context, throughout their discourses. There have been the Jaina recensions like the Pañcākhyāna which were the forerunners of the Pañcatantra. This gradually led to small and big compilations of Kathas which could be conveniently used as source-books for constant reference. Many teachers could narrate them in their own way keeping intact, as far as possible, the purpose and the frame of the story. Consequently we have today in Jaina collections a large number of Mss. called Kathakośas. Many of them are anonymous compositions, and very few of them are critically inspected in comparison with others of that class. Works like the Kumārapālapratibodha are nothing but collections of stories meant for a specific purpose. Individual stories from these collections are available separately also. As distinguished from these didactic tales, there are some stories associated with Vratas or the religious and ritualistic practices, and a good tale is composed to glorify the fruit of Vratas and the persons who achieved it. In later days they have lost all literary flavour and become mechanical and prosaic narratives which are often preserved in collections also.