________________
( 11 ) and partly following it Jinasāgara wrote the Jirandhara-purāņa in Jarathi by the middle of the 18th century A. D.
Thus the Jaina authors have used the story of Jirandhara, out of their religious zeal, as a theme for their literary compositions for more than one thousand years in different parts of India and in different languages. In modern times this topic was introduced into the structure of Indological Studies by Swaminath Aiyar who published the Tamil text JCi along with the Tamil commentars of Vaccinārkiniyār in 1887. An edition of it as the B. A. test was issued in 1900 or so. It was hailed as one of the five Wahãkãyyas of Tamil and looked upon undoubtedly as 'the greatest existing Tamil literary monument'. 'In grandeur of conception, in elegance of literarr diction and in beauty of description of nature it remains unrivalled in Tamil literature. For the later Tamil authors it has been not only a model to follow but an ideal to aspire to.' (See A. Chakravarti : Jaina Literature in Tamil, Arrah 1941, pp. 31 ff., which gives a detailed analysis of JCi in English; also Jain Antiquary,
xxi, 1; for a summary of JCi and Nariviruttam, see also Ayyangar and Rao: Studies in South Indian Jainism, Madras 1922, pp. 94-101). For some time its age and originality were a problem: its great editor, however, observed, as early as 1899, that it is not an original work but is greatly indebted to the Sanskrit GO.
Then T. S. Kuppuswami Sastri and S. Subrahmanya Sastri brought out an edition of GC in 1902 (Sarasvativilasa Series (SvS) No. I; was there a 2nd ed. in 1916 ?). The editors tell us that they accepted the best reading available and never gave an imaginary one. The text is obviously authentic, though the various readings are not noted. It was welcomed as being edited and printed in the most scholarly manner, E. Hultzsch recommended it for adoption as a Text book for University examination. In fact, it appears to have been prescribed as a Text book in Sanskrit for the B. A, degree examination of the University of Madras for the year 1905. Critical and explanatory notes on it were reported to have been in preparation, but it is not known whether they were published or not. In the Sanskrit Introduction it is shown that GC has common ideas and expressions with CJ of Haricandra and with the Kadambari of Bāņa. The editors have complimented the literary qualities of Vadıbhasimha, the author, in the following words :
'अस्य काव्यपथे पदानां लालित्यं श्राव्यः शब्दसंनिवेशः निरर्गला वाग्वैखरी सुगमः कथासारावगमश्चित्तविस्मापकाः कल्पनाश्चेतःप्रसादजनको धर्मोपदेशो धर्माविरुद्धा नीतयो
