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176 / The Rāştrakūtas and Jainism
| 6.5. Yasodhara, Nagakumāra, Jivandhara, Bahubali, Cārudatta, Dhanyakumāra, Pradyumna, Sanatkumāra, Vasudēva - are some of the distinguished, popular, and ideal heros in Jaina story literature. Naturally uttarapurāņa and a number of other kāvyas have narrated the story of these heros. Nāgakumāra, Phaņikumāra, Vikramandhara are all nomens of the same hero. Based on the Nāyakumāra-cariu, a Prkarit poem of Puşpadanta, Kannada authors have composed four works on the same theme. Poets have cultivated a fascination for the above characters, because they were equally distinguished in the art of war and peace. These heros who end their lives as perfect saints. After a stormy youth, marked by many adventures, Nāgakumāra finds himself, in the prime of life, the monarch of a splendid kingdom, leads a worldly life of pleasure in the company of many queens. It is established that the Jain authors were admittedly distinguished in the domain of ascetic poetry, but they could also make noteworthy contribution to the literature of love (erotic poem) the smara-tantra.
6.5.1. An account of each of Vasudēva's adventrures culminating in a happy marriage, the poem turns out to be a book of marriages. So is the case with other similar stories. Finally, these heros are shaken from their complacency by an incident, trivial in itself, like the sudden disappearence of the cloud or the beautiful spectrum of rainbow, the fall of a star, the sight of an uprooted tree or the appearence of the grey hair, but it will be full of significance to the hero at the right moment of matured consideration. The more he contemplates, more he sees in a moment's flash the hallowness of human life and the wisdom of seeking release from its bonds. Thus he looses all terrestrial interests, installs his son on the throne, seeks the peace of the forest and attains salvation in the end. This is the quintesence of not only the above stories of the romantic heros but also almost all the Jaina narative literature.
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