Contribution of Jainas to Sanskrit and Prakrit Literature

Author(s): Vasantkumar Bhatt, Jitendra B Shah, Dinanath Sharma
Publisher: Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi Ahmedabad

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Contribution of Jainas to Sanskrit and Prakrit Literature
is of great historical value in that, it gives the geneology of Vastupāla and describes the Capotkala and Calukya kings.
12. Jayasiṁhasūri was the pupil of Virasūri, and the Acharya of the shrine Munisuvrata at Broach. He was a Jain Svetāmbara. Once when Tejapāla, the brother of Vastupāla, came to visit the shrine, he recited a poem containing a request for a donation for twenty-five golden staffs in Sakunika Vihara of Ambada and as that request was granted, he composed a panegyric Vastupālaprasasti in praise of the brothers, and with the same object of commemorating the gift, he wrote the drama Hammiramadamardana at the instance of Jayatrasimha or Jaintasimha, son of Vastupala, which was enacted at the festival of Bhimesa in Cambay.
13. Merutunga's Prabandhacintāmani is a work of great historical importance. It was finished at Wadwan on the Vaisakha full moon of Sam. 1362 (1306 A. D.). It is divided into five prakasas, and each prakaśa into prabandhas. Each prabandha relates a story. It begins with the story of Vikramaditya, the traditional founder of the samvat-era. Then follows a short story of a previous birth of Satavahana. Then comes a long history of the Calukya kings of Anhilvad and in their connection king Bhoja and Munja are noticed. Then comes a detailed account of the Vaghela ling Lavanaprasada and Viradhavala with their minister Vastupala and Tejapala. The last chapter is miscellaneous of which the tales of Laksmanasena and Umapati and Bhartrhari may be of interest. His Mahapurusacarita gives an account of som Jain saints, though he is not a jain.
14. Rajasekharasūri was the pupil of Tilakasūri. He was a Jain. He wrote Prabandhakośa, a collection of 24 stories in prose at Delhi under the patronage of Mahanasimha, in Sam. 1405 (1348 A. D.). Of the stories related in the Prabandhakośa, ten refer to teacher (Suri), four to poets, seven to kings, and three to laymen in royal service. The four poets are śriharsa, Harihara, Amaracandra and Digambara-Madanakīrti. Among the seven kings are Laksmanasena and Madanavarman. A manuscript ends with a list of thirtyseven Chahamana kings down to Hammiradeva, who is stated to have ruled from Sam. 1342 to 1358, and his ancestor Prthviraja from Sam. 1226 to 1248. The list also mentions the names of the Sultans, with whom some of the Chahamana kings were at war.
15. Sakalakirti was a Bhattaraka of the Jain religion. His Dhanyakumāracarita, a poem in seven Adhikaras, describes the life of