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THE ŚVETĀMBARA LITERATURE
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this saint has survived. His disciple Udayaprabha is chiefly known for his poem Dharmābhyudaya Mahakāvya183. It is a poem of 15 cantos, describing the achievements of Vastupāla. It runs to over 5000 verses ; the first two cantos only deal with Vastupāla ; the next few cantos are actually Dharmakathas, based on Jain mythology. The cantos X to XIV is almost a separate work called the Nemināthacarita. The last canto describes the pilgrimage of Vastu pāla, in which we have the names of some new places, visited by that remarkable man. The Prasasti suplies the genealogical list of the Sadhus of the Nāgendra gaccha. Since the earliest manuscript of this poem is dated in V.S. 1290, corresponding to 1234 A.D., it was surely composed before that date. This manuscript, preserved at Cambay, was written by the great Vastupāla himself184
The Kathāratnakara166 or Kathāratnasāgara in 15 cantos, was written by Naracandrasūri, pupil of Devaprabhasūri of the Maladhari gaccha, at the request of Vastupala. Its earliest manuscript186 is dated V S. 1319 and it is still unpublished. He was also the author of several other works187. He was the guru of Vastupāla on his maternal (mātrpaksha) side 168.
The Alamkāramahodadhi 169 of Narendraprabhasūri, the disciple of Naracandrasūri, was written in V.S. 1282, corresponding to 1226 A.D., at Vastupäla's request. It is a work of great labour, though there is not much originality170, in this work of poetics. The author also wrote, along with it, a commentary (Vrtti) of his own. Like the Kavyānusāsana of Hemacandra, it is divided into eight chapters.
Bālacandra of the Candra gaccha was another great contemporary of Vastupāla and his Vasantavilasa171, a mahakavya, in 14 cantos, is actually the description of the achievements of Vastupāla. It was composed at the request of Jaitrasimha, the son of Vastupāla, probably after V.S. 1296, the date of Vastupāla's death. Like the great poet of the Kirtikaumudi, it follows the course of Vastupāla's life and it also incorporates, in its third canto, a history of Gujarat
