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Prakrit Literature / 185
in the long run. Since their approach was reasonable and objective, they won their point and subsequently Kannada survived with longevity.
6.8.7. Sanskrit had perforated into the very structure and culture of Karņāțaka. It had changed the phonology, syntax and semantics of Kannada with the domination of aspirates. It had replaced Kannada as the language of mantras and prayers in the temples of all religion. The elite professed an ego of Sanskrit as their prestige which created a class difference in the social structure. Prakrit also did not lag behind which was very much on the heels of Sanskrit, although it struck a note of via media, the language of the common folk.
6.8.8. All this and much more, naturally dissatisfied the staunch supporters of Kannada, and resulted in a popular movement of restoring the originality of local language at any cost. Srivijaya did not hesitate to lead the cause of giving prominence to Kannada. He awakened the authors to ward off and restrain from mixing Sanskrit and Prakrit expressions in the texture of native Kannada. After Srivijaya's model, Nayasēna and Andayya, two other Jaina poets of eminence took up the issue and the legitamate struggle sustained.
6.9. Equally prominent is the fact that the works of Jaina authors are embedded with historical facts and sociocultural items. Srivijaya's Kavirājamārga is a good example. Pampa, an epic poet and a court-poet of Arikesari-II, king of Vemulavāda Cālukyas, has recorded in his poem, Vikramārjuna vijayam olim Pampabhārata, and account of the genealogy of his patron. It is astonishing to note that the information about the family of Arikesari mostly corroborates with details found in all the three important charters of the Cālukyas of Vēmulavāda, viz., the Kollipāra plates of Arikēsari-I, the Vēmulavāda inscription of
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