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DIGAMBARA LITERATURE
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The first work is also known as the Mahāpurāna. 129 It is divided into two parts, Adipurāna and Uttarapurāņa. The second part also includes the Padmapurāņa and Harivamśapurāņa. The entire work runs to some 20,000 verses and has altogether 142 sandhis (chapters). The work, according to the testimony of the poet, was written under the patronage of Bharata, who was the minister of Krşņa III, and was completed in Saka 887 corresponding to AD 965. When he was a resident of Manyakheta. Puspadanta was originally a Brāhmana Saiva, but later became a Digambara ascetic.130
Puşpadanta was undoubtedly the greatest poet of the Apabhramsa language. He carries to perfection the possibilities of Apabhramsa as a vehicle of poetry. The Mahāpurāņa, which delineates the lives of 63 great men, is undoubtedly one of the finest poems of the tenth century. In numerous places in the poem he demonstrates his great poetic power, and some of the verses praising Bharata, his patron, are written in chaste Sanskrit. We further learn from some of the subjective verses of the work that Puşpadanta was a man of delicate temperament and health. He had several titles, of which Abhimanameru, Kavyaratnākara, Kavikulatilaka, Sarasvatīnilaya, etc. deserve special inention. It has further been conjectured that the poet in his earlier life had some bitter experience and was obliged to leave his original home. 131 He was however, cordially welcomed by the minister Bharata at Mänyakheta, where all his creative writ ings were produced.
The Nāgakumāracarital32 is a short work consisting of nine sandhis. It appears that even at the time of its composition Krsna III was on the throne of Mānyakheta and the city still enjoyed great prosperity. It was composed in the palace of Nanna, the son of Bharata, his earlier patron. The Yasodharacarital33 is another lovely work consisting of four sandhis. The story of Yaśodhara was a favourite theme with the Jaina poets and celebrated literary luminaries like Somadeva, Vādirāja, and others have written on it. This poem too was written at the residence of Nanna, when Mänyakheta was virtually a ruined and deserted city. We must remember that according to Dhanapāla's Päiyalacchi, Mānyakheța was plundered by the Mālava army in vs 1029, corresponding to an 972. Khoțtiga was probably the reigning king when this calamity befell Mānyakheta, Even in the Mahāpurāņa there is a verse!34 which refers to the sack of the city by the king of Dhārā. This particular verse was probably composed seven years after the composition of the Mahāpurāņa. We just do not know what
