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CONTRIBUTIONS TO LITERATURE, ETC.
91 tongue, as Siva produced the Ganges from the tip of his topknot ".97 And Bhattākalanka, the great Kannada grammarian (1604), refers to Srivardhadêva's book as the greatest work in the language, and as incontestable proof of the scholarly character and value of Kannada literature.99 But, unfortunately, no copy of the book has yet been discovered. For the earliest extant specimen of Kannada composition by a Jaina writer, we must therefore refer to the inscriptions at Sravaņa Belgoļa. In one of these dated c. 700 A. D. the death of an ascetic named Nandisena is thus described.
ಸುರಚಾಪಂ ಬೋಲೆ ವಿದ್ಯುಲ್ಲತೆಗಳಎವೋಲ್ ಮಂಜುವೋಲ್ ಕೋ ಆ ಬೇಗಂ | ಸಿರಿಗುಂ ಶ್ರೀರೂಪ ಲೀಲಾಧನ ವಿಭವ ಮಹಾರಾಶಿಗಳ ನಿಲ್ಲವಾರ್ಗ೦ | ಪರಮಾರ್ಧಂ ಮಚ್ಚೆ ನಾನೀಧರಣಿಯುಳಿರವಾನೆಂದು ಸನ್ಮಾಸನಂಗೆ ! ಯುರು ಸರ್ತ್ಪ ನಂದಿಸೇನ ಪ್ರವರಮುನಿವರ್ರ ದೇವಲೋಕಕ್ಕೆ ಸಂರ್ದಾ99 841
'Swift fading as the rainbow's hue
Or lightning flash or morning dew, To whom do pleasure, wealth, and fame,
For many years remain the same? Then why should I, whose thoughts aspire
To reach the highest gond, desire Here on the earth long days to spend ?
Reflecting thus within his mind, The noble Nandi Sen
All ties that bound to life resigned, To quit this world of pain,
And so this best of anchorites
The world of Gods did gain. 100 Kavirājamārga or the Royal Road of Poets', attributed by some to the authorship of Amoghavarşa Rāstrakūţa, 101 is the earliest extant work from which we come to know of the
97 Cf, Ep. Car. II SB 54. 98 C. Rice (E. P.), op. cit., p. 27 f; Rice (Lewis), Mysore and Coorg
I, pp. 197-198. 99 Ep. Car. II, 8B 88: cf. Narasimbăchārya, S'āsana Padya Vanjuri,
p. 1. 100 Bica ( E. P.) op. cit., p. 22. . 101 Of. Náthyram Prêmi, op. cit., P, 81.
