Pushkarmuni Abhinandan Granth

Author(s): Devendramuni, A D Batra, Shreechand Surana
Publisher: Rajasthankesari Adhyatmayogi Upadhyay Shree Pushkar Muni Abhinandan Granth Prakashan Samiti

Page 686

Jain Literature in Kannada
Tarure in Kannada
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likathe by Devacandra, composed at the instance of a queen of the Mysore Royal Family. The number of Jaina authors in Kannada, as noted by the late M. M. R. Narasimhachar some forty years ago, is about two hundred.22 To this number may be added another hundred found in recent years. A cursory survey of the Kannada Prantiya Tādapatriya Granthasūci 28 and the List of Unmentioned works of the History of Kannada Literature, 24 shows that there are numerous Kannada Jaina authors and Jaina works (some without the author's names) awaiting publication. All these are of the nature of commentaries on the Prakrit works of Kundakunda, Vattakera, Kārtikeya, Nemicandra etc., their translations and digests, their imitations, Puräņas, Caritas, collections of stories etc.
Conclusion The Jaina teachers and scholars happen to be the earliest cultivators of Kannada language for literary purpose. Unfortunately the earlier line of the development of Kannada literature, for the laying of which mainly the Jaina scholars appear to have been responsible, is not traceable. The great Kannada Jaina Commentaries on the pro-canonical works in Prakrit and Sanskrit represent a hidden landmark in the early history of Kannada literature of the 6th and 7th centuries A.D. There must have flourished several Jaina writers of prose and poetry during the period of the 7th and 8th centuries A.D. i.e., prior to the appearance of the Kavirajamārga and a pretty good number of the authors mentioned in it must have been Jaina teachers and scholars. The period between the 9th and 13th centuries A.D. can reasonably called not only the Jaina Period but also the 'Augustan Age' of Kannada literature, though Jaina authors continued to appear here and there up to the middle of the 19th Century A.D. The Jaina literature in Kannada though religious in the main, it also possesses a number of secular works produced for the benefit of day-to-day life of the people at large. In respect of antiquity Jaina Literature in Tamil stands first and that in Kannada stands next, not only among South Indian languages but also when compared with that in north Indian ones. But in extent and range, Jaina literature in Kannada surpasses that in Tamil too. Thus the contribution of Jainism to Kannada literature is unique ; and early literature, to a certain extent, has often served as an authentic source of religious, social and political history of a community in India as also elsewbere. Hence without a thorough study of Jaina literature in Kannada, the Jaina Studies in general would not only remain incomplete but even rather poor.
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Notes and References
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1. Of course admitting the changes effected by time, of which we have no record. 2. Thus the two traditions regarding the preservation of the canonical knowledge are comple
ment each other to a certain extent. Vide Introduction to Şarkhandagama Vol. I, by
Dr. H. L. Jain, Amaravati, 1939, p. iii. 3. In his Gujarat and its Literature, Longmans, Green and Co., Ltd., Bombay 1935, p. 32. 4. In his History of Indian Literature, Vol, II, Calcutta 1933, pp. 394-95. 5. (i) Vide Jainism in South India and some Jaina Epigraphs, by Dr. P. B. Desai, Sholapur
1957, pp. 18 ff and Dakşiņa Bhārat meṁ Jaina Dharma by Pt. K. C. Shastri, Varanasi,
1967, Intro. pp. 1-iii. (ii) Vide also Antiquity of Jainism in South India, Indian Culture, Vol. IV, pp. 512-516. 6. Vide Pt. K. C. Shastri, op. cit., pp 62-72. 7. Noted by Dr. P. B. Desai, op. cit, p. 15. 8. For details on this topic vide Jaina Literature in Tamil, by Prof. A. Chakravarti, First Re
vised Edition, Delhi 1974. 9. For the dates of these Tamil works, some of which are controversial, I have mainly
depended on the History of Tamil Literature, by Prof. S. Vaiyapuri Pillai, Madras, 1956. 10. There has been also a lot of controversy on the authorship of this great work : Some
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