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CHAPTER-5
KANNADA LITERATURE
5.1. "There is scarcely any province of Indian literature in which the Jains have not been able to hold their own. Above all, they have developed a voluminous narrative literature, they have written epics and novels, they have composed dramas and hymns; sometimes, they have written in the simple language of the people, at other times they have competed, in highly elaborate poems, with the best masters of ornate court poetry, and they have also produced important works of scholarship". [Winternitz, M: History of Indian Literature, vol. II. 1933: 483].
5.1.1. The above statement holds good and appropriately sums up the attempts of Jaina authors in Kannada, Sanskrit and Prakrit literature in the years of Rāṣṭrakūta rule. Infact, a brief chronicle of Jaina literature will be in defense or an expansion of the above statement. Jainism had deeprooted in the fertile soil of Karṇāṭaka, under very favourable circumstances, before the Rāṣṭrakūṭa's could become the sovereigns. Jains had become the warp and the woof of all fields. In brief, they had contributed immensely to the enrichmentment of Karnataka's heritage in various branches of knowledge. The inspiration generated by Jainism and Jaina intelligence has been a factor of inestimable value in the out growth of language and literature, both religious and secular.
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