Gaudavaho

Author(s): Vakpatiraj, Narhari Govind Suru, P L Vaidya, A N Upadhye, H C Bhayani
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 81

(Lxiv) when he shows him his poem Gaudavadha, which he wrote in prison. He then goes to Gopagiri-durga, where he writes his great Prakrit Poeni Mahumahaviyayo and shows it to Ama, who rewards him with one lakh of gold pieces. Afterwards when Vākpati was living the life of a strict reciuse at Mathurā, he was converted to the faith of Jina by Bappabhatti.",
The Prabhāvaka,-charita, composed by Prabhācandra-sūri and revised by Pradyumna-sūri, is merely an amplification of the Prabandha-kośa of Rājasekhara, except that Yašovarmā is described here as having descended from and being a bright ornament of Chandragupta. As in the Prabandha-kośa, the composition of Mahumahaviyayo is wrongly placed after that of the Gaudavaho. After Vākpati was set at liberty and left the prison at Laksanavatī, he came, however, to Kanauj and not to Gopagiri. There he was liberally patronised by Ama. Āma thought he was fortunate in having Vākpati at his court. There is no allusion to his having ever been at Kanauj before, or to his having been connected with Yašovarmā.
The other two Jain works viz. Tirthakalpa and Găthāsāhasrī of Samayasundara are also mentioned by Pandit for their references to Bappabhatti-suri.
According to Pandit31, however, these 'ain sources cannot be relied upon, since they do not agree as to the dates and the whole story of Bappabhatti and also for the fact
that they give to Ama an extraordinary reign of much more than eighty years and a life of over one hundred years...! The whole story of the life of Bappabhatti is little better than a fabrication intended to show how easily he
31. Pandit-'Gaüqavaho '--Introduction, Pp. clviii to clix.