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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF JAINISM
happened to the poet or his new patron after the fall of Mānyakheta. 135
The exact contemporary of Puspadanta was Somadeva who, as we have already noticed, in a previous chapter, is mentioned in an inscription of Saka 888, when Krsna III was the sovereign king. 136
Three works of Somadeva have already been published. They are Nītivākyāmặta, Yaśastilakacampū, and Adhyātmatarangiņi. The Nītivākyāmyta, 137 according to its commentator,138 was written at the request of Mahendrapāla, king of Kanauj. Raghavan proposed his identification with Mahendrapāla II, who is known from an inscription of vs 1003, corresponding to AD 946.139 Now we definitely know from the Yaśastilakacampū that it was written in Saka 881 corresponding to AD 949. It follows therefore that the Nītivākyāmrta was written before the Yaśastilakacampū. However, in the praśasti of the Nītivakyāmrta, Somadeva is described as the author of the Yasodharacarita. Raghavan and Premil10 have opined that this prasasti was added later. It appears that Somadeva started his career at Känyakubja and later migrated to the south. I noted in a previous chapter that Somadeva was probably a Jaina monk of Bengal, belonging to the Gaudasamgha who later lived in the Pratīhāra kingdom from there he migrated to the Sapädalakṣa country.
The Nītivākyāmrta is largely based on the the Arthasāstra of Kautilya and is written in prose. It is however, surprising that now here in this work has the author has cared to mention that great authority. Some earlier authorities like Sukra, Bhisma, Viśālāksa, etc., who are mentioned by Kautilya, are however referred to by Somadeva in this work. The language is attractive, which is not surprising in the case of a genius like Somadeva.
The Yaśastilakacampū141 is one of the finest novels in Sanskrit literature and, in some respects, is similar to the Kādambarī of Bana, which is a model for Somadeva. The conversion of the cruel king of the Yaudheyas. Māridatta, who is described as a devotee of the goddess Candamāri, to Jainism is the theme of the novel. It is basically based on a story of the Uttarapurāņa. As we have already observed, the story of Yaśodhara was extremely popular among the early Jaina writers. The author of the Kuvalayamālā 42 is the first writer (Saka 700) to refer to the story of this prince of Ujjayini written by Pravañjana. Later Haribhadra treated it in the fourth Book of his Samarāiccakahā. Harisena and Puşpadanta also wrote on Yaśodhara's adventures. There is however little doubt that Somadeva is the most
