________________
Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
År yarakṣitas üri ( who died in the year 557 after Nabavira, i.e., in 30 A. D.); while the biographies of (prominent) personages who flourished after the time of Aryarak sita are prouounced by him as Pratandhas. It is not clear whether this listinction is made by Rajasekharasuri himself or he owes it to some older authority. In any case, however, as Dr. B. J. Såndesara* rightly points out, this type of distinction in nomenclature has not been always observed in actual compositions, because the works dealing with the life of persons like Kumarapala, Vastupåla and Jagad u who flourished as late as the 12th and the 13th centuries have been styled as Caritas, e.g, the Kumarapalacarita of Jinamaņda. naganin (1335-36 A. D.), the Vastupalacarita of Jinaharsa ( 1441 A.D.) and the Jagadúcarita of Sarvinanda (14th cent, A.D.).
Turning to the Prabandhas actually available, we can generalise that Prabandha is a form of literature of historical anecdotes widely cultivated especially by mediaeval Jaina writers of Western India, written in a regional style of Sanskrit which may be described as simple, popular, colloquial Sanskrit as contrasted to the Classical Sanskrit. These historical anecdotes do add to our historical knowledge. All the same their motives are "to edify the congregations, to convince them of the magnificence and the might of the Jaina faith and to supply the monks with the material for their sermons, or when the subject is purely of worldly interest, to provide the public with pleasant entertainment."
The Prabandhavali of Jina bhadra (1234 A. D.) is the earliest available dated Prabandha- collection. Only one Ms. of this work, dilapidated in condition, is preserved in a Bhandara at Patana (North Gujarata) locally known as Sangha-110 Bhandara. In the well-known compilation of prabandhas made by Muni Pinavija yaji and published by him as No. 2 of the Singhi Jaina Şeries in 1936 A. D. under the name of Puritana-prabandha-sangraha this Prabandhavali was the main Ms. (viz. Ms. P) which he has described on pp. 2-20 of his llindi Introduction to the work. It comprises 40 prabandhas in simple prose a majority of which deal with historical personages of Western India with the exception of a few which are taken from folklore. Three of the fons Apabbramsa verses occurring in the Prihviraja
+ तब श्रीऋषभादिवर्धमानान्तानां जिनानाम, चक्यादीनां राज्ञाम्, ऋषीण वायर क्षितामताना वृत्तानि
चरितानि उच्यन्ते । तत्पश्चात्कालभाविना तु नराणां वृत्तानि प्रबन्या इति । -- PK, p.1, II. 19-20. * LCV, p. 144. [ Bühler, Life of Hernacandrācārya, p. 3
For Private And Personal Use Only
