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Prakrit and Apabhramśa Studies
Varāmga-cariya (in Paddhaời metre); Suddaya-vira-kaha; Samtiiņāha-caccari; Ambādevi-rāsaya.
None of these works has been recovered so far. Most probably all the four were in Apabhraíśa. The themes of these works, except that of the second one, are well-known in the Jain literary tradition. We know of numerous works in Prakrit, Apabhramsa, Sanskrit and Old Gujarat (either in any one of these or in several languages) pertaining to the lives of Varānga, śāntinātha and Ambādevī. But the Suddaya-vira-kaha, qualified by Vira as ‘praised by learned critics for its poetic qualities', is obscure4.
3. Samdeśarāsaka of Abdala Rahamāna (composed probably in the thirteenth century), while describing the city of Mūlasthāna (i.e. present-day Multan in Eastern Punjab), refers to the public recitation of the epics, epic tales and popular tales along with performances of dance and opera. Along with the Bhārata, the Rāmāyaṇa and the Nalacarita, we find there mention'5 of Sudavaccha, which is explained in the Sanskrit Tippanaka on the Sandesarāsaka as Sudayavaccha-kathā 'the tale of Sudayavaccha'. In the Index to the Samdeśarāsaka I had suggested that this tale of Sudayavaccha was the same as the popular tale of Sadevamta and Sāvaliṁgā well-known in the oral tradition and early literature of Gujarat and Rajasthan. The Samdeśarāsaka reference establishes its currency in the Punjab region. Further, Padumavata of Jāyasi (17th Century) refers to a tale of Sadaivaccha and Mugudhāvati. If this tale was the same as (or a version of) the Sudavaccha, its currency in other regions also is indicated.
4. Another reference to the tale of Suddaya or Sudavaccha sheds some light on the general character of that tale. In the · Apabhramśa poem Sudaṁsanaeariya completed in 1044 A.D.. Nayanandin extols the biography of Sudarśana in the following terms:
Rāmo Siya-vioyu-sova-vihuram sampattu Rāmāyaṇe jādā Pandava Dhāyarattha sadadam gottamkali Bhārahe dedā-kodiya-cora-rajja-ạiradā āhāsidā suddhae no ekam pi Sudamsanassa caride dosam samubbhāsida 6
