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COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF JAINISM
the father of the poet of the Neminirvāṇakāvya was Chāhada, that of the father of the Alaṁkära work, was Soma. It is just possible that these two are the names of a single individual.
The Neminirvāņa-kavya, also called a mahākāvya, has altogether 15 cantos, and has some 958 verses. As the name indicates, it deals with Neminātha, the 22nd Tirthankara. The language is simple, yet extremely dignified, and we find the use of all the principal metres. The life of the hero is based on the poem of Guņabhadra (chapters 70-72) and.we also can notice the influence of the sisupalavadha.“
We have another yāgbhața, who was the author of a very competent work on Rhetoric, called the Kāvyānusasana.6. His father Nemikumāra was a great Jain Śrävaka, who built Jina temples in Rajasthan and especially in the Medapāța (Mewar) area. In this work, the author has quoted a verse from bis own Rshabhadevacarita, which is no longer available now. He has also shown acquaintance with various poets and rhetoricians, including the Candraprabhakāvya, Neminirvāņakāvya, and the pag bhatalarkara," This Kavyānusasana was probably written around 1:00 A.D.
śubhacandra was the author of the well-known Digambara work of philosophy, called the Jñānārņava", which was probably composed in the 11th century. According to Premits, this work was definitely written before the Yogasastra of Hema candra and certainly influenced that great master. However, a few others would assign this work in the last quarter of the 12th century. Its earliest manuscript is dated in V.S. 1284 and Premi claims that many of the passages of Hemacandra are borrowed from the Jñānārņava. It is a work of 42 chapters and it has altogether 2077 ślokas. According to a tradition, recorded by Premi?, Subhacandra was a contemporary of Paramāra Bhoja. In that case, Subhacandra definitely flourished before Hemacandra.
Another remarkable Digambara Jain writer, of the 11th
