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श्रीमद् विजयराजेन्द्रसूरि-स्मारक-ग्रंथ early popularity of even an Advaitic work with the Jains probably was due not so much to their agreement with Harga's philosophy as to his brilliant dialectics which made short work of most systems of philosophy. It was difficult to maintain any thesis against his destructive dialectio system. It was in the Jain philosopher's own interest that he should become familiar with this new weapon in the armoury of Brahman pbilosophers. Pure Literature.
The kávyas and nātakas studied by the Jains of Rajasthan can conveniently be classified under three heads; (1) Works produced by Jain writers with a view to propagating their religious teachings, (2) Classical works of great masters like Kalidasa, (3) Other works. Let us have them in this order.
Of Kāvyas with a religious bias there is a good number, for the Jain teachers cultivated the art of poetry not so for its own sake as to carry the message of the Tirthankaras to the people in a form they liked best. The versatile Haribhadra sūri is said to have written Kathākoša, Dhūrtākhyāna, Munipaticharita, Yasõdharacharitra, Virāngadakatha, and Samaraichchakahā. But of these only two, the Dhūrtakhyana5o and Samaraichchakahā51 have been discovered so far. The Dhurtākhyāna is a good satire on popular Hinduism. The Samarai. chchakahā is a Prakrit gadya-kavya interspersed with verses here and there. Its flowing style, easy prose, and absence of unnecessary ornamentation, coupled with an interesting narrative which drives home the Jain lesson that a man suffers on account of his bad actions and can rise only by cultivating good virtues, has made it very popular with the Jain writers of all ages and provinces. It was summarised into Sanskrit by Pradyuman Sūri in V. 1324 ( 1267 A. D.).58
Haribhadra was followed by his pupil, Darginyanka Udyotana Sūri who completed his great kathā, the Kuvalayamala at Jalor in 778 A. D.
50. Published in the feet # 97471, 61. Edited by Hermann Jacobi.
52. By Siddharsi Sūri, Vadi Dova Suri, Laksmana Gani, Malayagiri, Pradyumna sūri etc.
58. Edited by Dr. Hermann Jacobi.
