Bruhat Katha kosha

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

Page 72

INTRODUCTION
Corresponding to these virtues, exemplary stories are given by this Kathākośa in Prakrit with stray verses in Sanskrit here and there. It is written mostly in verse, there being a few prose passages. Religious and didactic instruction through stories is the main purpose of this composition; and they are expected to influence the reader and turn him into a well-behaved householder.1
Kathakosa (Bharatesvara-Bahubali-Vṛtti) of Subhasila: BharahesaraBahubali are the opening words of a Prakrit composition in 13 verses, perhaps a part of daily salutation, enumerating a century of great personalities, 53 men (beginning with Bharata and ending with Meghakumāra) and 47 women (Sulasă to Reņa) who have been well-known for their accomplishments in their religio-ascetic duties. Most of them are the characters from the stories and exemplary tales narrated and referred to in early Jaina literature some tract of which is already reviewed above. They are to be met with in texts like the Suyagaḍam, Bhagavai, Nāyādhammakahão, Antagada, Uttarajjhayaṇa, Païņņas, Āvassaya. and Dasaveyāliyanijjutti and their commentaries. The Prakrit verses give simply a string of these names, and in the beginning they must have been quite significant to those who were well-versed in the wide range of Jaina literature. Later on the need of exhaustive commentaries utilising the original sources and giving the stories in details was gradually felt. Subhasilagani, the pupil of Munisundara of the Tapagaccha has written a Sanskrit commentary giving the stories in prose and verse interspersed with Prakrit quotations here and there. The Vṛtti being entirely made up of stories, it is called Kathakośa; and it was composed in Samvat 1509.2 Subhasila shows a special aptitude for narrative composition. Besides his other works, he has written Pañcaśatiprabodhasambandha3 which "contains nearly 600 stories, anecdotes, legends, fables, fairy-tales etc., some of which allude to historical personages, kings and authors of both ancient and modern times, such as Nanda, Satavahana, Bhartṛhari, Bhoja, Kumārapāla, Hemasuri and others."
41
Kathākośa (Vratakathākośa) of Śrutasǎgara in Sanskrit: It contains stories about the Vratas, religious courses and vows consisting of rituals and fasts, such as Ākāśapañcami, Mukuṭasaptami, Candanaşaṣṭhi, Aṣṭahnika etc, The author belonged to Mulasangha, Sarasvati-gaccha, Balatkara-gana; and Vidyanandi was his teacher. He has not given his date, but from the external evidence he can be assigned to the 16th century of the Vikrama era. He has given a few stories in his Sanskrit commentary on the Pahuḍas of Kundakunda.
1 Thanks to Śri Jinavijayaji who kindly supplied me with a few advance forms (covering 90 folios) of this work which is in the press.
2
It is published in the Devachand Lalabhai Pustakoddhara Series, Nos. 77 and 87, Bombay 1932 and 37.
3 Peterson's Reports, III p. cxxi; Winternitz: HIL, II p. 544; etc.
4 Premi: Jaina Sahitya aura Itihasa, pp. 406-11.
6