International Jain Conference 1985 3rd Conference

Author(s): Satish Jain, Kamalchand Sogani
Publisher: Ahimsa International

Page 150

Contribution of Jaina Poets to
Rajasthani Literature
(9th to 16th Cent)
Dr. K. C. Kasliwal
There is scarcely any province of Indian Literature to which the Jainas have not contributed. The Jaina Acharyas remained always keen enough to write works in every branch of literature. Besides the religious works, they have developed voluminous narrative literature. They have written epics, Puranas, Rasas and other kinds of works. Moreover, they composed their works in the simple language of the people and for the people. They were always broad minded, as such they did not stick to only one particular language but equally contributed to all the Indian languages. Though their main language is Prakrit, yet, when demanded by their followers, they did not lag behind in writing works in Sanskrit, Apabhramsa, Rajasthani and Hindi and also other provincial languages.
In Rajasthani, the contribution of the Jaina poets is immense. As a matter of fact, the Jainas were the first scholars who started writing in Rajasthani. In the 9th Century when Apabhramsa was developing language, Udyotan Suri, a Jaina Scholar named Marwari as a language. From the 9th to 12th century when Apabhramsa was regarded as the language of the people, Rajasthani and Gujarati were also making their room in Rajasthan and Gujarat side by side. It may be stated that Rajasthani language came into existence in the 9th century and was honoured by the great writer, Udyotana Suri. From the 12th century onwards works were being written in Rajasthani and the Jaina writers took initiative in writing Rajasthani works. First of all they composed works called Rasas which were popular at that time. Bharteshwara Bahubali Rasa composed by Shalibhadra Suri in the year 1184 A. D. is the first Rajasthani work in this field. The work having 203 verses describes the battle which was fought between Bharat and Bahubali. After this work, Jambuswami Rasa was composed by the poet Dharma in the year 1209 A. D. It contains 41 verses. In the year 1231 A. D. Vijaysuri wrote Revanti