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Some interesting Cultural Data in the
'Bhuvanasundarī-Kathā'
M. A. Dhaky
In [Ś.]S. 978 (A.D. 1053), a Jaina pontiff Vijayasimha-sūri, disciple of Samudrasūri of the Nagendra-kula—a branch of monks affiliated to the Svetāmbara sect—wrote in Mahārāstrī Prakrit a 'Kathā' or narrative class of work, namely Siri Buyanasundarīkahā (Sri Bhuvanasundarī-kathā)' while sojourning, as per its colophon, in a samgha-matha or Fraternity-monastery located in Someśvaranagara (Prabhāsa Pātana). The students of medieval western Indian Jaina literature are aware that the works of the narrative category were produced in the largest number from the 11th to the 13th century by the Svetāmbara sect when it reached the apogee of its expansion, influence, and productivity in the religious sphere in western India. Many Jaina temples, temple-complexes, as also some manuscript-libraries were built in those centuries. The literary work under reference, since composed during the period of the Solanki monarch Bhīmadeva I (A.D. 1022-1066)—one of the better times on the score of excellence of cultural manifestations-its importance as a source for historical and cultural data, besides the consideration of its visibly present literary merits, is self-evident. It is the first of these two matters/points which is central to this article.
The author of the work, in the opening verses, recalls the great poets of the past, namely Pälitta (Padalipta-sūri I) (c. late 2nd - early 3rd cent. A.D.), Kālidāsa (c. late 4th - early 5th cent. A.D.), Haribhadra-sūri (active c. A.D. 745-785), Bappabhatti-sūri (active c. A.D. 770-839), and Dhanapāla (c. A.D. 975-1030). Excepting Kālidāsa, the remaining four were Jaina, the first of whom (Pālitta) belonged to the main line North Indian Nirgrantha Church, the remaining three to the Svetāmbara sect in western India.
