Jain Journal 1975 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 4

140
JAIN JOURNAL
Pt. Hiralal Jain. The book lovers will be delighted at this 15th century version of the life and doctrines of Bhagavan Mahavira.
4. Sirivāla Cariu is a 16th century epic by Narasena Deva written in Apabhramsa. The principal characters of this epic, Sripala and Mayana Sundari are too well-known in Jaina literature and have figured at many a place. The epic has two chapters. The first chapter describes at length the character of the hero. Taken as a whole, it is a picture of the ups and downs of human life which are the outcome of karma, both good and bad. The poet has described this in the life of Sripala with exceptional dexterity.
5. Vira Jininda Cariu by the great poet Puspadanta is the life of Mahavira in the Apabhramsa and enjoys the status of being a Mahāpurāņa. In fact, this is the earliest work in Apabhramsa dealing with the fascinating theme of the life of Bhagavan Mahavira. It was composed during the reign of the Rastrakuta king, Krsnaraja III which will be somewhere near Saka 887 or 965. Pt. Hiralal Jain has translated it in Hindi prose.
6. Jaina Literature in Tamil by the late Prof. A Chakravarti is a very useful reprint of his celebrated work which first appeared in 1941, and now with Introduction, Footnotes, Appendix and Index by K. V. Ramesh. Among later Indian languages, Tamil has a rich literature on Jainism. It includes things widely apart, kävyas and mahākāvyas, purāņas, didactic and devotional poems, lyrics, tales, romances and allegories, works on logic, dialectics, ethics, politics, grammar, poetics, prosody, lexicon and medicine. The readers of this reprinted text get a bird's eye view of the entire Jaina literature in Tamil.
7. Bhāratiya Sqștividyā is a comparative study about creation based on the Jajna, Buddhist and Hindu sources, separately considered. The author has something to say on evolution as well.
8-9. Mahavira, His times and His Philosophy of Life, in Hindi as well as English, is a concise Digambara version of Mahavira's life. Highlights of the work are the date of his nirvāņa, the place of his birth, the place of his penances, the place of omniscience, the place of first sermon and place of nirvāņa.
10. Kathākoşa by Prabhacandra is an 11th century production in Sanskrit prose. It contains short stories to illustrate jñāna, darśana, cāritra and tapah which are important in Jaina life. A simultaneous Hindi translation would have made the text more widely read.