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JAINISM AND KARNATAKA CULTURE
existence of numerous other writers of an earlier age. According to this poet, roughly assigned to the middle of the ninth century A. D.,
. In all the circle of the earth
No fairer land you'll find, Than that where rich sweet Kannada
Voices the people's mind.
The people of that land are skilled
To speak in rhythmic tone; And quick to grasp a poet's thought,
So kindred to their own. Not Students only, but the folk
Untutored in the schools, By instinct use and understand
The strict peotic rules. 102 It is interesting to compare this with the following lines from an inscription at Soraba, of the time of Devaraya I of Vijayanagara (1408);
ಜಿನಧರ್ಮಾವಾಸವಾದತ್ತ ಮಳವಿನಯದಾಗರಮಾದತ್ತು ಪದ್ಮಾ-1 ಸನನಿರ್ಪಾಸದ ಮಾದತ್ತ ತಿವಿಶದಯಶೋಧಾಮಮಾದತ್ತು ವಿದ್ಯಾ-1 ಧನಜನ್ನ ಸ್ಥಾನಮಾದತ್ತ ಸಮತರಳಗಂಭೀರಸಹಮಾದ-1
ತೆನಿಸಿಂತುಳ್ಳ ನಾನಾಮಹಿಮೆಯೊಳೆಸೆಗುಂ ಚಾರುಕರ್ಣಾಟದೇಶಂ | 103 The poet describes the charming Karņāța country as the home of learning and of Jina-dharma. We have already seen that this is largely true, and it was during the Golden Age of Jainism under the Gangas that Kannada literature got considerable patronage and impetus. Among the prose writers in Kannada referred to in the Kavirājamārga is Durvinita, who is identified with the Ganga ruler of that name :(482-522 A. D.). He is said to have been the author of a commentary on the difficult 15th sarga of Bhāravi's Kirātārjunīya. 104 For a more detailed consideration of the patronage of learning under the Gangas 102 Kavirajamā ga I, 36-9; cf. Bice ( E. P.) op. cit., p. 29. 103 Narasimbachārya, op. cit., p. 260, Soraba 280. 104 Rice (E. P.), op. cit., p. 28; cf. Kadlür Plates of Mārasimbu Ganga,
Mysore Archaeological Report 1921, p. 20; ibid, 1924, p. 76.
