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Out of the 57 stories in KumāPra approximately 11 stories are taken from the traditional
stock. Though the themes are not new, Somaprabha has successfully revived the narratives by the touch of his proficiency in classical Prakrit.
Around thirteen stories, which are newly constructed by Somaprabha, are in true sense his own creation. Among them, the most interesting stories are (a) The story of Candā and Tauka (p.304) is a dhūrtakathā ; (b) a story based on the interaction between a father-in-law and a daughter-in-law is based on family background (sfidariçe p.220); (c) a story of Gunadhara and Gomatī, is based on the proverb - 'tit for tat' (p.350) and (d) Nāginīkathā is a story of a flirt woman enjoying extra-marital relations (p.407). These stories are basically vratakathās but the plot, the characters and happenings are so nicely woven and neatly presented in lucid style, that one can call them as 'masterpieces'.
Nearly ten to twelve stories based on 'vrata-māhātmya' are really stereo-type, boring and
insipid in all sense. Somaprabha's failure in the art of narration is explicitly seen in these stories.
3. The Salient Features of KumāPra A] KumāPra : A Specimen of Classical Prakrit
When we consider the post canonical Prakrit Jaina literature from language point of view,
we can divide it as 'Classical Prakrit' and 'Sanskritized Prakrit. This division can be applied not only to Jaina Mahārāstri but also to Mahārāstrī employed by non-Jaina authors. The anthology Gāthāsaptasati is quoted as a specimen of Classical Prakrit while Kassavaho, Gaudavaho and Śrīcinha-kāvya are the specimens of artificial or Sanskritized Prakrit. Therefore it is utterly necessary to designate the language of KumāPra, whether it is 'classical' or 'artificial'.
When we comprehensively examine the stylistic peculiarities of KumāPra, we come to the conclusion that it is certainly a piece of classical Jaina Mahārāstri, due to the below mentioned points:
1) Easy, lucid and running prose in Prakrit with occasional use of Sanskrit and Apabhramsa
verses.
2) Samasyāpurtis, Prahelikās etc. cited by the female characters are invariably quoted in
Apabhrmsa. 3) Absense of long compounds and usage of small compounds having maximum three
constituents of course with very few exceptions of dvandva-samāsa'. 4) Profuse use of Desya words, Dhātvādeśas and Proverbs.
This point needs a little elaboration to understand the intrinsic nature of Somaprabha's
language.
i] (a) Nouns (with Marathi equivalents and meaning) Yric p.27.30 (M - RU) - hunting
Efsat p.29.6 (M-ja) - wing of birds, fins of a fish forsi p.34.15 (
M CO) - forehead
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