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Aryarak sitasûri (who died in the year 557 after Mahavira, i.e., in 30 A.D.); while the biographies of (prominent personages who flourished after the time of Aryarak sita are pronounced by him as Prabandhas. It is not clear whether this distinction is made by Rajasekhara sūri himself or he owes it to some older authority. In any case, however, as Dr. B. J. Sāņdesarā* 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 Kumāra pāla, Vastupala and J agad û who flourished as late as the 12th and the 13th centuries have been styled as Caritas, e.g. the Kumārapālacarita of Jina mandanaga nin (1335-36 A. D.), the Vastupālacarita of Jina harşa (1441 A.D.) and the Jagadūcarita of Sarvār, anda (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 Prabandhāvali of Jin a bhadra (1234 A. D.) is the earliest available dated Prabandha- collection. Only one Ms. of this work, dilapidated in condition, is preserved in a Bhandāra at Pāțaņa (North Gujarata) locally known as Sangha-no Bhandāra. In the well-known compilation of prabandhas made by Muni Pinavija yaji and published by him as No. 2 of the Singhi Jaina Series in 1936 A. D. under the name of Purātana-prabandha-sangraha this Prabandhāvali was the main Ms. (viz. Ms. P) which he has described on pp. 2-20 of bis Hindi 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 four Apabbramsa verses occurring in the Pythviraja
। तत्र श्रीऋषभादिवर्धमानान्तानां जिनानाम्, चक्रयादीनां राज्ञाम्, ऋषीणां चार्यरक्षितान्तानां वृत्तानि
चरितानि उच्यन्ते । तत्पश्चात्कालभाविना तु नराणां वृत्तानि प्रबन्धा इति । - PK, p.1, II. 19-20. * LCV, p. 144.
Bühler, Life of Hemacandrācārya, p. 3
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