Jinamanjari 1998 09 No 18

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

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Jinamañjari, Volume 19, No.2, October 1998
Agaḍadattacariyam of Devendragani
Dr. N. Suresh Kumar
Department of Prakrit and Jainology, Mysore University, India
Guṇādya, the ancient author who created the Brhatkatha epic in Prakrit language, ranks alongside of the authors of other Indian epics - the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Later authors like Dandin (6th C.E.) and Bāṇa have praised Guṇādya. Udyotanasūri (779 C.E.) has made reference to the Bṛhatkathā epic in his Kuvalayamālā and mentions that the Baḍḍakaha (Prākrit form) as an abode of all the arts and knowledge, "a veritable mirror for poets." Poct Dhanapala (970 C.E.) in the introduction to his Tilakamañjarī remarks that "the Sanskrit stories borrowed in little drops from the ocean-like Bṛhatkathā simply look like patched-up garments."
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The Vasudevahindi of Sanghadāsagaṇi Vācaka who composed it in the First or Second century2 has assimilated the tales of the Bṛhatkaatha in different contexts. The publication of the Vasudevahindi in 1930-31 edited by Muni Caturvijaya and Muni Punyavijaya thus has become a landmark in the study and reconstruction of the lost Bṛhatkatha of Guṇādya. Sanghadāsagaṇi Vācaka's contribution to the field of Prakrit narrative literature is indeed remarkable.3 In the introduction to the work, he points out that he is going to narrate the Vasudevacariya, a compilation handed down through a succession of teachers. Sudharma, the śrutakevalin, narrated the story to his disciple Jambu, who recounted it in the Paḍhamanuoga. Dharmasenagani Mahattara, the author of the Majjhimakhanda (an unpublished MSS at L.D. Institute), however, notes the Vasudevacariya story has come from the Drṣṭivada and is based on Gaṇḍikānuoga (Ganitāṇuoga ?).4 Dharmasenagani Mahattara must have been well acquainted with Sanghadāsagani Vācaka's work, since he claims in his work that he has completed the unfinished parts of the Vasudevacariya story.
A few scholars have carried out research work on the Vasudevahindi text. They are:
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- A.P. Jamkhedkar's doctoral thesis, "The Cultural History From Vasudevahindi." University of Nagpur in 1965.
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