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Jain Literarture and Performing Arts
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(d) The Dhavala Song35
Dhavala as a type of song has a continuous life of some two thousand years—from the beginning of the Christian era till today. Svayambhū, and following him, Hemacandra, the two leading authorities on Prakrit and Apabhramśa prosody, have noted a tradition according to which king Hāla Sātavāhana, the famous poet and compiler of the Prakrit verse anthology called Saptaśataka (or Gātha-kośa), had composed many Dhavala songs. In later Prakrit and Apabhramśa works like the Kuvalayamālā, Vajjālagga, Jambīsāmi-cariya, Siddhahema etc. we find many instances of the Dhavala. Medieval Gujarati, Rajasthani, Hindi and Marathi literatures were rich in the Dhavala (Dhaula) and Mangala types of musical poems written by Jain and non-Jain poets; and up to the present day Dhols are sung in Gujarat as marriage songs and as songs praising Kșşņa or other deities and sacred persons in the Vaişnavaite and Jain religious traditions.
4. Musicological Data
In several Jain texts we find scraps of information that throw light on such musicological subjects as the history of the Tarānā36, modes and classification of the Rāgas, musical instruments like Sārang 137 and Rāvanahastaka. etc. which I have noted elsewhere,
Notes
1. It may be observed in this connection that many important
Jain Classical texts still remain unedited and unpublished, lying buried in manuscript collections and even for many of those whieh have been published, no translation is available in any modern language. These facts prove to be great handicaps for
many who want to utilize them as sources. 2. Kapadia, 1973 gives detailed information about Music, Dance
and Drama from Jain Canonical literature, its commentaries and some other works. Kapadia, 1980 similarly presents data
