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Subjects Dealt With
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PRAKRIT & APABHRAMSA KAVYAS
There is a good number of Kavyas written in Prakrit and Apabhramsa, Vimal Suri was the first known Acārya, who wrote a Mahakavya Paum Cariya' in Prakrit language. It was composed in the Vira Nivána Saṁvat 5302 It contains 118 cantos and describes the life of Ráma according to Swetāmbar Jaina faith. Padma is the name of Răma One palm leaves manuscript written in the year 1141 A. D. is available in Brihad Gyana Bhandar, Jaisalmer. Swayambhu is the first poet of 9th century whose works written in Apabhramsa are available. He wrote two Kavyas. one is called PAUMCARIUS and the other is RITTHA ŅEMICARIU. Both the works are preserved in Amer Sastra Bhandār and Digambar Jain Mandir Badhicand Jaipur respectively Paumcariu is divided into five Kändas i. e. Vidyadhara Kānda Ayodhya Kanda, Sundara Kanda, Yudha Kanda and Uttar Kända. There are 90 sandhis in all the five Kāndas This is the Jaina Ramayana dealing with the life of Rāma. The work is regarded as one of the best work ever written in this language. The Ramayana written by Tulsidasa is divided into 7 Kändas i e Bálā Kanda, Ayodha Kānda, Aranya Kanda, Kışkindhå Kānda, Sundara Kanda, Lanka Kānda and Uttar Kända, The story of Tulsidasa's Ramayana though based on Balmiki Ramayana. but in several aspects it is similar to Swayambhu's PAUMCARIYU. The scholars like Mahapandit Rāhul is of the opinion that the word "wafuatfo" denotes that the poet Tulsidasa borrowed some story from the PAUMCARIU also.
The Rittha Ņemiciriu also called Harivansa Purana is a voluminous work having 112 Sandhis and 1637 Kadavakas. Some of the last Sandhis were written by his son Tribhuvan Swayambhu. Puspadanta the famous author of Mahapurana of 10th century wrote Jasahar Cariu and Naya Kumar Cariu. There are nine sandhis in Ņāya.Kumar Cariu and four sandhıs in Jasahar Cariu. These works are very popular among the public. Manuscripts of these works are available in several Bhandārs of Rājasthan.
Adinatha Carita' is a voluminous work of Vardhaman. In it there are 15000 gathas divided into five Chapters. The date of work is 1103 A.D. Santi Sūri
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Brihad Gyan Bhandar, Jaisalmer. re a r HTC at TR TETT बीरे सिद्धमवगए तमो निबद्ध इमे चरिय ।।
3 Published by Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, Bombay. H. Brihad Gyan Bhandar, Jaisalmer.
