Treasury of Jain Tales

Author(s): V M Kulkarni
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre

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Jain places of pilgrimage together with the names of their founders, the kings by whom they were restored, and also the dates. It contains a lot of legendary matter but possesses some slight historical significance as it is based on earlier sources and in part deals with events belonging to the author's own period.
(vii) Dharmakathas
The 'dharma-kathās (religious romances/novels and romantic epics) of the Jain authors and poets introduce a new genre in Indian literature. These romances are never intended for giving mere pleasure or delight. They give pleasure and at the same time provide religious instruction and enlightenment. The earliest dharmakatha was Tarangavati by Pādalipta Süri (2nd or 3rd century A.D.). The original has not come down to us but a la recasting of it, Tarangalolā, has been preserved. This Tarangavati most probably served as a model for Haribhadra's Samaräiccakahā (8th century A.D.), a magnificent religious romance. Haribhadra's literary glory primarily rests on this work. The poet traces the fate of a hero and his opponent through nine births. The dominant idea underlying the main narrative and most of the tales inserted in it is nidäna, a special phase of karman Bartering away one's austerities for sensual pleasures in a future birth, which are denied to him in the present one, or for revenging oneself for insults or personal injuries in the subsequent births). In the numerous stories and fairy-tales and parables inserted, we come across some which we find in Indian narrative literature, and a few which belong to universal literature.
Uddyotanasūri, a direct disciple of Haribhadrasuri of Samarãiccakahā fame, wrote his Kuvalayamālā, a 'dharmakathā' or rather a sankirnakatha', in A.D.779. The Samarāiccakahā is centred round the motif of karman and transmigration used as a literary device: the story follows the fates of two 'jivas' (souls) connected by a nidāna through nine bhavas (births). Uddyotana has outdone his Guru by increasing the number of ji vas, whose histories are marked by vicissitudes in the course of various births,