Jinamanjari 1995 09 No 12

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

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commentary to Chakkhandagama and Kasayapathuda containing 12,000 verses, using Kannada, Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. All these three commentaries are now extant.
Prakrit continued to exercise its grip and command over the learned, including the kings. Durvinita (600 A.D.) of western Ganga dynasty, whose national religion was Jainism, is said to have written three works, one of them being Vaddakathe, which is supposed to be a faithful version of Gunadhaya's Brhatkatha in Paisacl. Vaddakathe is only next earliest work on Gunadhaya's BK after VH of Sanghadasa (6th century). Vaddakathe and a Tamil work Perungathai by a Jain authour Konguvelir (8th century) represent southern recension of Gunadhaya's Brhatkatha. Durvinita is said to be a disciple of Pujyapada.
Like Durvinita, another Ganga King Sivamara II (800 A.D.) was versatile in Kannada, Sanskrit and Prakrit. He has written a Sivamaramata or a Gajastaka and a Setubandha Kavya. There is a Prakrit Setubandha (Ravana Vaho) attributed to Kalidasa or Pravarasena (of Vakatakavamsa). But some scholars and historians have expressed emphatically that the author of Prakrit Sethubandha is none but this Sivamara.
A study of Prakrit was a prerequisite to Jain writers as some of the basic religious texts were in that language. Hence most of them were equally proficient in Prakrit as well in Kannada. Some of the over enthusiastic Kannada poets have used Gahas in Kannada Kavyas. On account of this intimacy with Prakrit, Jain Poets could open a new horizon in Kannada literature. So much was the influence of Prakrit that the author of Kavirajamarga (9th century) warns the Kannada poets to ward off the Prakrit temptation. It is possible that some of the Kannada works written earlier to Kavirajamarga, both in prose and in poetry, of which we have no access, might have borrowed or translated mainly from Prakrit works.
Narrative stories such as Dhanya (Kumara), Kartika (-risi), Salibhadra, Cliatapuita- have entered the lore of Kannada literature descending from Prakrit Anutaropapadikadasa. It is only with the source of Ardhamagadhi canon. a scholar will be able to explain the
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