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Finally, the Jain scholars also cotributed to the growth of Hindi prose during its formative stages. This need not cause any surprise : for the Jains who were traders, prose was more useful for keeping business records and conducting business correspondence. This also explains why in this century, the Khatris, who were partially traders, also contributed to the growth of prose as a vehicle of literary expression.
Among Jainas, as early as the mid-sixteenth century Pandey Rajmal wrote a commentary on Kundkundacharya's Samayasara in Hindi prose. 23 The tradition continued thereafter; Banarsidas, the poet, also wrote in Hindi prose. 29 His prose writings were collected by one of his friends after his death in a work called Banar sivilas. 30 Other prosewriters were Akhayraj Srimal, Pande Hemraj and Rupchand Pande etc.81
The Jain writers came very near to writing the first historical work in Hindi. The book Raj Vilas is a panegyric but is full of historical importance.32
The Jain writers helped to popularise Hindi prose as a medium of literary expression.
Department of History Patna University Patna, Bihar
28. Ibid., p. 476; Kamta Prasad Jain, op. cit., pp. 135-38.
Nemichandra Shastri II, p. 40. It is claimed that Banarsidas
was inspired by this example. 29. Ibid., Kamta Prasad Jain, op. cit., p. 136 30. Nemichandra Shastri, II, pp. 41-42 31. Ibid., pp. 42-44 32. Dhirendra Varma and Brajeshwar Verma, op. cit., p. 496
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