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Vaidyanāth kalānidhi: A Jaina Encyclopedia
275 of altars, priests, towns and town-planning, palaces and their components, forests, trees, lists of mountains and rivers, varieties of women and the ornaments they wear and yogic practices. The subjects encompassed are so many and so varied that one is amazed at the all round knowledge of the author.
Another notable feature is the language and the style of the author. Apart from the wide range of information it contains, the literary style, in which it is presented, is noteworthy. The language is Marathi, but is full of Sanskrit words. The author has a liking for compound i. e. sāmāsika vritti ( I gra), words which reminds one of the literary style of Bānabhatta. This has made the work essentially readable. Date Now, a word about the date of the work is necessary. The author has given a list of authors on poetics and grammar. In the list the following names occur: Maheshwara (?) Mahendra (?) Aindra Jainendra (5th century AD) Chandra (6th century AD) Shakarāyan (9th century AD)
We have no idea about the first two authors. Three more scholars along with their works are also mentioned. They are: Shringāratilaka of Rudrața (6h-8h century AD) Vyaktiviveka of Māhimbhatta (11th century AD) Vrittaratnākara of Kedārabhatta (11" century AD)
All these are placed in a period prior to the 12th century AD. No author or work after that date finds mention in this work and hence the work can be assigned to the late 11th or early 12th century AD. Old Trends Some peculiar words and phrases, which are found mentiond in Kalānidhi, can be mentioned. In common with the Mahānubhāva works and the Jñāneśvarī masculine and neuter proper names and adjectives end with a 'u' as in - यज्ञमंडपु, स्फाटिक, वसंतु etc. · The construction of verbs show archaic usages such as: भावडिला
(Bhāvandilā) तुरूंबिणिला
(Turumbiņilā) वृध्ददशा आलंगिला (Ālangilā) Language In order to give an idea of the language and details of information, I would like to give a list of information related to sacrifice first and then quote the original text where it describes a
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