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JAINA BIBLIOGRAPHY
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The Cultural Heritage of India-vol. II, Calcutta, 1962,
Pp. 99-100. Part I. Section 7. Influence of the Epics on Indian life and literature by: Nilmadhava SEN.--The influence of the Rāmāyana on Jain literature. Jains adopted many popular epic stories and episodes including Ramayana and Mahabharata but with wide deviation from the original in favour of Jainism. The earlist Laina Ramayana epic is Paumacariya by Vimala Süri (in about the 3rd or 4th century A.D.) written in pure Mahärästri Prakrit. Other notable works in Sanskrit are Padmapuräna by Ravişena and Trișașți-salakäpurușa-charita by Hemachandra.
Pp. 102-103. The earliest Kannada Rāmāyana (Ramachandra-charita-purana) written by Nagachandra (c. 1100 A.D.) gives a Jaina version of the Rāma story and differs considerably from the original works. Other Jaina versions of Ramayana in Kannada are the kumudendu Rāmāyaṇa (c. 1275 A.1).), the Rama-Katha-Valära (c. 1297 A.D.) by Devachandra and the Rama-Vijaya-Charita by Devappa (16th century A.D.)
Pp. 109-110. The influence of the Mahābhārata in Jaina literature. The Jaina version of the Mahābhārata is termed Harivarśa, where Krsna is the major, Balarama is the second important figure, and the arch-enemy (Prati-vāsudeva) is Tarāsandha. The fight between the Kauravas and Pandavas is almost omitted in the śvetāmbara version, while the Digambaras closely follow the Brahmanical version. All the stories get mixed up with the life of Ariştanemi, a cousin of Vasudeva. Almost all the characters are converted to Jainism,
The following are the Jain versions of the Mahābhārata and its stories -
1. Harivansa Purana of the Digambara sect by Jinasena in 60 chapters completed in 783 A.D.
2. Uttarapurana of Gunabhadra (9th century A.D.)--a part of Mahapurāna.
3. Påndava Purāņa of śubhachandra (written in A.D. 1501).
4. Šatrunjaya Mahatmya’s tenth to twelfth sargas deal with the Mahabharata story.
5. Pandava-carita . of Malad harin Devaprabha Sūri. (C. A.D.: 1200) in 18
sargas.
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