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96
JAINISM AND KARNĀTAKA CULTURE
Rāmāyaṇa, have already been cited. But they were by no means the earliest, nor even the only writers on the subject. “No Indian vernacular,” wrote Mr. Lewis Rice, "contains a richer or more varied mine of indigenous literature though scarcely at all known or exposed, (than Kanarese) ; a literature, moreover, which as the product to a great extent of Jain and Lingāyat authors, is independent of Sanskrit and Brāhmanical works." 93 They wrote on all subjects, as we shall notice below : on religion and ethics. on grammar and prosody, on medicine and even natural science, such as was understood in those days. Out of the 28o poets (belonging to the period of our survey, noticed by Mr. R. Narasimháchār, in his KarnatakaKavicaritrê), no less than 95 are Jaina poets; the Vira-śaiva or Lingayat poets come next, being 9o ; whereas the Brāhmanical writers are only 45, and the rest, all included 50.94
The earliest of these, namely Kaviparamèsti, whom, however, we know only by allusion, goes as far back as at least the 4th century A. D.95 Both Jinasena and Guņabhadra, in the Adi and Uttara Purāņa respectively, speak of him as an earlier writer on the same
स पूज्यः कविभिलाके कवीनां परमेश्वरः वागर्थसंग्रहं कृत्स्नं पुराणं यः समग्रहीत् ॥ आ. पु. कविपरमेश्वरनिगदितगयकथामातृकं पुश्चिरितम् ।
सकलच्छंदोलंकृतिलक्ष्यं सूक्ष्मार्थगढपदरचनम् ॥ 96 उ. पु. But among the writers of whom we know more definitely is Śrīvardhadêva, also called Tumbulürācārya from his birth-place, author of a commentary on theTattvārtha Mahāśāstra, entitled Cūdāmaņi, which is said to have run into 96,000 verses. Two facts bring out the greatness of this work: Dandin, of the 6th century A. D., praises Srivardhadêva for having " produced Sarasvatı (i. e. learning and eloquence ) from the tip of his
93 Rice, Mysore and Coorg 1, p. 398. 94 Narasimhächārya, Karataka. Kavicaritré 1, Indrod, p. xxi. 95 Rice ( E. P.), Ranarese Literature, pp. 26–27. 96 Cf. Nätbarām Prêmi, Vidvadratnamila I, pp. 60, 61.
