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iv
PAUMACARIU
Among them the compositions of three Jain poets enjoy prominence because of their great extent and their epic form. These three poets are Svayambhū, Puşpadanta and Haribhadra. Of these, Svayambhū belonged most probably to the Yāpaniya Jain sect (a sect which though existing at present only in name, once enjoyed a status parallel to the Svetāmbara and Digambara sects) and Puşpadanta was a Digambara, and their literary activity flourished in the Mahārāştra-Karņāțaka region. Haribhadra, on the other hand, was a Svetāmbara Jain and his literary activity was carried on in the Rājasthāna-Gujarāta region. Chronologically Syavambhū comes first, Puşpadanta next and after him appears Haribhadra. Svayambhū's date is not fixed with definiteness, but as shown in the Introduction by Dr. Bhayani we can reasonably place him between the beginning of the eighth and end of the nineth century. Puşpadanta's date is fixed as his Mahāpurāņa was composed between 959 and 965 A.D. Similarly Haribhadra's date is supplied to us by his own work which was completed in 1159 A.D. Talking of the compositions of these great poets of Apabhramsa letters, Svayambhū's two extensive works are the Paümacariu and the Ritthanemicariu, Puşpadanta's big work is Tisațțhimahāpurisaguņālamkāra or Mahāpurāna, while Ņemiņāhacariu is the corresponding epic of Haribhadra. Of these Mahāpurāna has been already properly edited by Dr. P. L. Vaidya and published in three parts in the Manikyacandra Digambar Jain Granthamālā. A portion of that poem dealing with the narrative of Harivamsa has been also separately published by that eminent German scholar Dr. L. Alsdorf and published by the Hamburg University.
As suggested at the outset, the idea of publishing the works of Svayambhū as also the Ņemiņāhacariu of Haribhadra was with me since quite long. When I was working as the Director of Gujarāt Purātattva Mandir (Gujarat Oriental Research Institute) which functioned as the Postgraduate and Research Department of Gujarāt Rāştriya Vidyāpīth (Gujarat National University) founded in Ahmedabad with the great efforts of Mahatma Gandhi, I had prepared a scheme for that Institute for publishing ancient Indian literature and in the Series that was consequently started under the name 'Purātattva Granthāvali' I had intended to include, along with many Sanskrit, Pāli, Prakrit, Apabhramsa and Old Gujarati works, the Harivamsapurāņa of Puşpadanta and the present work of Svayambhü. With that end in view I had also got them copied from the MSS. But due to lack of favourable circumstances the idea could not be carried out. Afterwards in A.D. 1930, when I undertook to work as the general editor of the Singhi Jain Series, my old temptation of bringing to light those two works revived with fresh force. In the meanwhile, through the admirable efforts of my learned friend
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