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COMPREHENSIVB HISTORY OF JAINISM
He describes himself as the disciple of Vijayakirti and mentions in the 25th canto, a very good number of books118, written by him, which were apparently completed before V.S. 1608. This formidable list includes poems on different Tirthankaras and commentaries on philosophical texts a also a commentary on Vädirāja's Pārsvanāthapurāņa.
The Pandavapurāṇa has altogether 25 cantos (paryan), and it runs to 6000 verses, written in lucid Sanskrit. The poet has effectively used not only the original Mahābhārata, but also the Jain Purānas, like the Harivansa of Jinasena and the Uttar apurāna of Gunabhadra. He also made use of the Pandavacaritrali' of Svetāmbara Devaprabhasūri. In each parvan, there is a separate prayer, addressed to the various
Tirthankaras. In the first parvan all the 24 Tirthankaras have been addressed ; and in the second, there is a prayer, addressed to Lord Mahāvīra. From the 3rd paryan to the 25th parvan, twenty-three Tirthankaras from Rshabha to Pārsva, have been addressed, according to the order of seniority. The treatment of the different characters of the Mahābhārata is refreshingly simple. After the Pandavapurāņa, Subhadcandra is known to have written two more works, namely the Karakanducaritra150, composed in V.S. 1611 in the Adinātha temple of Khangejavācha and the ţikā on the Kärttikeyānuprekshā151 in V.S. 1613, completed in the Jain temple of the Hisārasāra town. The work on Karakandu is not, however, an original poem of the author, but a mere Sanskrit tranlation 252, of the Apabhramśa poem of Kana. kāmara, which has already been discussed above. Subhacandra, however, has not mentioned the original work of Kanakâmara in his poem.
Śubhacandra's literary activities began as early as V.S. 1573, in which year, he wrote a commentary (tika) on the Adhyātmatarangiņi or Samayasāranāțakakalaśa164 of Amstacandrasūri. He composed his pañjikā on Vādirāja's Parsvanātha Purāņa at the request of Sribhūshana. Subhacandra belonged to the Balātkāra gana of the Mülasanzha