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Kannada Literature / 153
to justify that the emperor honored the author for glorifying his subordinate! However, the matter is not a closed chapter.
5.6.3.2.2. Continuing the Jaina etiquette of authoring a laukikakāvya, like Srivijaya, Guņavarma-I and Pampa, his predecessors, Ponna had composed BhuvanaikaRāmābhyudaya olim Rāma-kātha in circa 955 C. E. Perhaps, as discussed above, Ponna had identified his patron, a historical person, with Rāma, a legendary hero. While the theme is the popular story of Rāmāyaṇa, it has adopted the Jaina version of Rāmāyaṇa. Rāma legend in Jaina belief has a long unbroken history, starting from Vimalasūri (C. E. 473), and Ravişeņa (C. E. 676), who wrote in Prakrit and Sanskrit languages respectively.
5.6.3.3. In the time of the Rāstrakūtas, the story of Rāma finds a place of prominence in Uttarapurāṇam of Guņabhadradēva (C. E. 877), preceptor of Krsna-II. In the context of Kannada literature, Srivijaya, court poet of Amoghavarşa was the prime author to compose Raghuvamsapurāņam (C. 845 C. E.), and a few of his stanzas are also cited to illustrate the rules of poetics, in his Kavirājamārga. After him Ponna was the second author to deal with the same subject. Whether he has followed the path of Vimalasūri or Guņabhadra or Srivijaya is uncertain. What is certain is that the poem was a quasi-historical work.
5.6.3.3.1. Based on the merit of the verses of the above poem, quoted in some later works, mentioned earlier, it can safely be said that Bhuvanaika Rāmābhyudaya kăvya was a work of superior quality worth the royal benevolence it received. After Ponna, Nāgacandra (1044-1100), Kumudēnudu (1275) and other poets have also composed long poems on the same theme of Jaina Rāmāyana. But, how far the later poets are influenced by Ponna is not known.
5.6.3.4. Ponna, a junior contemporary of Pampa, has composed an āgama-kāvya also. Sāntipurāṇam, a poem of
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