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DIGAMBARA LITERATURE
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that Jinasena I had a long life and his earliest poem Pārsvābhyudaya was probably written in his early youth. We further learn from his disciple Guņabhadra that Jinesena I could not complete his Adipurāņa, and Guņabhadra wrote the last 1620 ślokas of this poem which runs to 12,000 verses. Jinasena I was the author of the first forty-two chapters and the 3 verses of the chapter forty-three. The remaining portion of the latter and the last four chapters were written by Guņabhadra.
The Adipurāņa is undoubtedly one of the finest poems written in the early medieval period. It was apparently written after the Jayadhavalā commentary, and he was naturally a man of advanced years at the time of its composition. The poem deals with the life of Rsabha, also known as Adinātha. The poet calls it both 'Purāna' and ‘Mahākāvya'. It has been called an encyclopaedia of the Digambara religion. He started this poem in order to write the lives of 63 great men, but was able to only complete the lives of the first Tirtharkara and the first Cakravartin, i.e., Bharata. His knowledge of the writings of the Brāhmaṇas and the various arts is yet to be equalled by any Jaina writer. Being himself a Brāhmaṇa in his early life, he was acquainted with the Smộti texts. His knowledge regarding the various janapadas is also remarkable. 81 In chapter 16 there is a short account of town-planning. A treatise on the duties of warriors and the art of governance is to be found in the fortysecond chapter. He has also poetically described the six seasons, moonrise, sunrise, etc.85 Even the beauty of the female body has not eluded his attention.86 The various love scenes portrayed by the poet fully justify my contention that the Jaina poets scrupulously followed the footsteps of earlier Hindu poets in their treatment of love, romance, etc. The poet writes in an easy, limpid style and we would be fully justified in calling him the greatest Jaina poet of all times.
Guņabhadra, the great disciple of a great preceptor, as I have already said, is the author of the last portion of the Adipurāņa and the whole of the Uttarapurāņa.87 The two poems are together known as the Mahāpurāna. The Uttarapurāna runs to 8,000 verses and is therefore a shorter poem than the poem of Jinasena I. He had great respect for his preceptor. 88 It was formerly supposed that the Uttarapurāņa was completed in Saka 820, corresponding to AD 898, but Premi has shown89 that the praśasti of this poem was written by two poets, Guṇabhadra and his disciple Lokasena. The first 27 verses of the praśasti were written by Guņabhadra in which he has expressed
