Studies in Jainism

Author(s): Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta
Publisher: Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture Culcutta

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STUDIES IN JAINISM
is given by the chief disciple of the Tirthankara, namely, Gautama. A rich literature of this kind is found, written in Prakrit and Sanskrit as well as in Apabhramsa.
The earliest epic available is the Paümacariya of Vimala Sūri, in 118 chapters, which gives the Jaina version of the Rāmāyaṇa. It has marked differences from the work of Valmiki which was, no doubt, known to the author. The language is chaste Māhārāṣṭri Prakrit and the style is fluent and occasionally ornate. Just as Vālmīki is the adikavi of Sanskrit, Vimala Sūri may be called the pioneer of Prakrit kāvya (poetry). According to the author's own statement, the work was produced 530 years after Mahāvīra's nirvāṇa (that is, at the beginning of the first century A.D.).
The Padma-carita of Ravisena (seventh century) in Sanskrit follows closely Vimala Suri's work, and the same epic is beautifully rendered in Apabhramsa by Svayambhu (eighth century), and later on by Raidhu. The linguistic interest and poetic charm of the Apabhramśa works are remarkable as they set the model for the earliest epics of Jayasi and Tulasidāsa in Hindi.
Jinasena's Harivamsa Purāṇa (eighth century) is the earliest Jaina epic on the subject of the Mahabharata, the chief heroes being the twenty-second Tirthankara Neminatha and his cousin Kṛṣṇa Nārāyaṇa. The Apabhramsa version of it is beautified by the genius of Svayambhu and his later followers, Dhavalā and Yaśaḥkirti.
The most comprehensive work, and again the earliest of its kind, is the Mahapurana of Jinasena and Guṇabhadra (ninth century). The first part of it, called the Adipurāṇa, ends with the nirvana of the first Tirthankara, Ādinātha or Rṣabhadeva, while the second part, called Uttarapurāṇa, narrates the lives of the rest of the Tirthankaras, and the remaining salākā-puruṣas. The work of Jinasena may be called the Jaina encyclopaedia. It enlightens its readers on almost every topic regarding religion, philosophy, morals, and rituals. The philosophical knowledge of the author is demonstrated by his commentary, the Jayadhavalā, and his poetic ability is evinced by his Pārsvābhyudaya-kāvya in which he has transformed the lyrical poem Meghaduta by Kalidasa into an equally charming epic on the life of the