Contribution of Karnataka to Jain Literature and Culture

Author(s): K Krishnamoorthy
Publisher: Z_Kailashchandra_Shastri_Abhinandan_Granth_012048.pdf

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wherein the supernatural and romantic episodes of Naravāhanadatta are transferred to Vasudeva, with slight variations is Vasudevahindi of Sanghadāsagani and it is ascribed again to this period. It illustrates the pithy observation of Dhanapāla that all tales in Indian literature are more or less mere variations of the original theme contained in the Bșhatkatha itself :
सत्यं बृहत्कथाम्बोधेबिन्दुमादाय संस्कृताः ।
तेनंतरकथाकन्थाः प्रतिभान्ति तदग्रतः ।। This was also the period which saw the foundation of the Daviba-sangha dy the pontiff Vajranandin at Madurai; its branches were spread over Karnataka also as evidenced by epigraphs.
It is again a Jaina poet from Karnataka, viz. Dhananjaya who added a new dimension to the domain of Sanskrit Kavya by composing the first Dvisandhāna-kavya or equivocal poem in which the same verses yield simultaneously the story of the Rāmāyaṇa as well as the Mahābhārata. It is indeed a rare feat exploring the inexhaustible elasticity of the Sanskrit language. The same poet has also written a lexiconNamamala and devotional hymn Vişāpahara-stotra. As he is quoted by Virasena in his Dhavala (completed in 780 A.D.), he might be a century earlier. In the Namamāla, Dhananjaya's treatment of synonyms and homonyms marks an advance over that of even Amarasimha. For example, he first enumerates twentyseven synonyms of earth such as 'Bhumi', 'Pșthui' etc. and adds crisply :
तत्पर्यायधरः शैलः तत्पर्यायपतिर्नुपः ।
तत्पर्यायरहो वृक्षः शब्दमन्यत्र योजयेत् ॥ Mathematically, we get here a record of 27X3 – 81 vocables. To each of the twentyseven names of af we can and when it would mean ‘mountain', or -fa' when it would mean 'king' or '-' when it would mean 'tree' :
+43-448 = Mountain qeat + T = qatti = Mountain
+ ufa = Hafa = King qeat + fa = geatafa = King T + F = 455 = Tree qeat + s = quate = Tree
Dhananjaya's Vişāpahara-stotra is as lucid and charged with devotion as his Dvisandhana is difficult. Here is an example at random
विषापहारं मणिमौषधानि मन्त्रं समुद्दिश्य रसायनं च ।। भ्राम्यन्त्यहो न त्वमिति स्मरन्ति पर्यायनामानि तवैव तानि ।।
[Kävyamalā, VII, Bombay, 1907, P. 23, verse-14]
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