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JAINA CELEBRITIES IN THE VIJAYANAGARA EMPIRE 377 great guru Ajitasena Vādībhasimha.
Fifteen years later Kalyāṇakirti came with his five works -- Jñānacandrābhyudaya, Kamanakathe, Anuprekşe, Jinastuti, and Tattvabhedāşțaka. His guru was Lalitakīrti who belonged to the Dēsiya gana. Kalyāṇakīrti informs us that he wrote the Jñānancandrābhyudaya in Saka 1362 (A.D. 1439), and Kāmanakathe at the instance of king Pāņdya Rāya, the son of the Tuļuva lord Bhairava, and the disciple of Lalitakirti.? This Pāndya Rāya, the son of king Bhairava, was no other than Vīra Pāņdya, who had caused the famous image of Gomața to be constructed at Kārkala.
All names of Jaina authors are put into the shade by Mallinātha Sūri Kolācala, the celebrated commentator of Kālidāsa's works. This learned man was one of the judical officers of Emperor Vīra Pratāpa Praudha Deva Rāya of Vijayanagara (A.D. 1419-A.D 1446). We prove this from Mallinātha Sūri's interesting work Vaiśyavarrśasudhārņava, which was written under the orders of that monarch. The object of this work was to determine whether or not the words such as Vaisya, Nagara-Vanik, Vaạija, Vāņi, Vyāpāri, Üruja, Tritīyajāti, Svajātiyabhedaja, Uttarāpathanagareśvardevatopāsaka, etc., found in an inscription at Kañci, meant a Vaisya as distinct from one who was styled a Komaţi.? This official
1. Kavicarite, II, p. 84.
2. M. A. R. for 1927, p. 26; 399 of 1926 ; Kuppuswami Sastri, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Skt. Mss. in the Govt. Oriental Mss. Library, Madras, XXI, pp. 8212-8215 where Mallinātha's family history is given by one of his descendants called Padayojana. See also K. P. Trivedi, Bhatti-Kavya, Introduction, pp. XXIV-XXV, where Mallinātha is placed in the fifteenth century. (Bombay Skt Series. LVI, 1898); and also Pratāparudrayo'sobhūşaņa, Intr. pp. 1-2. (Baroda Or. Ser.) ; N. Venkataramanayya, Vijayanagara, Origin of the City and the Empire, pp. 181-182,
