Jinamanjari 1995 09 No 12

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

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origin and development of these stories. The main character of Srenika, perhaps modelled on Janamejaya of Mahabharata, Puranas and Kannada story literature has drawn from Prakrit.
There are more than half a dozen Neminatha Puranas in Kannada than of any other Tirthankara, and their main reason and source is Prakrit Literature.
Divakaranandi (1064 A.D.) wrote a Kannada Commentary on Tattavartha Sutra, the first commentary in Kannada on the famous Sanskrit work. It contains about 22.5 gahas, which clearly speaks of authors' proficiency in Prakrit. Santinata's (1068 A.D.). Sukumara carite, a Cumpu Kavya in Kannada has been influenced by Prakrit works of the same story. Durgasimha (1031 A.D.) in his Karnataka Pancatantram has narrated the previous births of Gunadya: “One Puspadanta in the Sivagana, as a punishment for overhearing, was reborn in this mundane world as Gunadhya. Later he rose to eminence as a poet of excellence and wrote Bhrhat Katha in Paisaci. In due course Vasubhagabhatta picked up only five stories from that occean of stories (Gunadhya's Brhatkatha) and wrote it in Sanskrit and named it as Pancatantram. This work was acclaimed and appreciated by kings and poet laurates. I (Durgasimha) am rendering afresh that Pancatantram into Kannada." Thus this Kannada translation of Pancutantram has a special significance of preserving a Jain version.
Vittavilasa's (1360 A.D.) Kannada Dharmaparikse, though directly indebted to Amitagati's (1014 A.D.) Sanskrit works, has some stories that originate from Prakrit Dhurtakhyana (Haribhadra Suri: 750 A.D.) Harisena's (988 A.D.), Dharma-Pariksa in Apabhrammusa and all of these works in turn ultimately point to Nisitacurni (677 A.D.)
A tradition of writing commentaries on Bhrhaikatha existed in Karnataka from 8th century. Among the earliest are Vijayodaya in Sanskrit and Aradhana Karnatatika in Kannada respectively written by Parajita Suri and Bhrajshnu. Though the date, place and identification of them are still debatable, it is possible that they were from Karnataka and lived in 9th century. Ramacandra Mumuksu has based his
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