________________
THE SVBTĀMBARA LITBRA TURB
213
temporary life. Like his other works, the author has freely used both Sanskrit and Prakrit and there are also Apabhramśa passages. The story of Nāgadatta refers to the worship of kuladevata on the famous Kālañjara mountain. Another story refers to the worship of the goddess Kätyāyani and also associates the religion of the Jinas with Śriparvata in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh This particular mountain is quite well-known in the Sanskrit literatureo. Kāmarūpa's association with Tantric rites has been mentioned. The author has also tried to show the superiority of Jain religion over other religious sects. It is also quite significant to note that almost all the Jain narrative authors have shown great acquaintance with the Tantric and especially sākta rites. Even the human-sacrifice in connexion with the worship of Candikā was practised. The dramma coin was generally the medium of exchange, as we know in Western India, there was not much use of gold coins. Among the Hindu tirthas Pravåga and Pushkara are
rominently mentioned and there is also some information on the life of the prostitutes of those days. It also appears that the author was capable of understanding the intricacies of love-affairs and he had also thorough knowledge of nonJain literature.
Another well-known Śvetāmbara writer of the 11th century was Nemicandrasūri, whose ākhyānamaņikoša 1, (AMK) was written in V.S. 1129, corresponding to 1073 A.D. He belonged to the Bșhad gaccha and the Vrtti of this work was completed in V.S. 1190 (1134 A.D.) by Amradevasūri, who was the pupil of Jinacandra, a friend of Nemicandra. If was written at Dhavalakkapura (Dholka), during the reign of Jayasimha Siddbarāja. 2. This work (along with the Vrtti) has been described “as the treasure-house of stories" and it can very well be compared, in this respect, with the Brhatkathakośa of Harishena, written in 931 A.D., and which has been discussed in our earlier volume. A few stories are taken from the Jain canonical literature, but a few others,
