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RELIGION & CULTURE OF THE JAINS
The period of Jaina predominance in the literary field may justly. be called the Augustan Age of Kannada literature. Jaina authors in Kannada are far numerous than in Tamil. To name only a few, we have Pampa, Ponna, Ranna, Gunavarmā, Nāgacandra, Nayasena, Nāgavarmā, Aggala, Nemicandra, Janna, Andayya; Bandhuvarmā and Madhura, authors whose works are admired as excellent specimens of poetic composition. It is only in Kannada that we have a Rāmāyaṇa and a Bhārata based on the Jaina tradition in addition to the same works based on Brāhmaṇical. Besides kāvyas, written by Jaina authors we have numerous works by them dealing with subjects such as grammar, rhetoric, prosody, mathematics, astrology, medicine, veterinary science, cookery and so forth. Altogether the number of Jaina authors in Kannada is nearly two hundred."
According to E.P. Rice, another authority, Jaina literature includes all the more ancient and many of the most eminent Kanarese writings, and Professor V.A. Sangave says, "The history of Jainism in Southern India is primarily the history of that religion in Karņāțaka where it held away for a continuous period of not less than eleven centuries from the early days of Christian era. it was during the golden Age of Jainism under the Gangas that Kannada literature got considerable patronage and impetus, and throughout this period and even afterwards the Jainas were predominant in enriching the Kannada language and literature by every possible means." Dr. B.A. Saletore also observes, "The Jaina teachers as the intellectual custodians of the Andhradeśa, the Tamil land, and Karņāțaka most assiduously cultivated the vernaculars of the people, and wrote in them great works of abiding value to the country. Purism was the keynote of their compositions, although almost all the early Jaina writers were profound Sanskrit scholars. With them originated some of the most renowned classics in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.... To the Andhradeśa and Karņāțaka, among other precious gifts,
