Vajjalaggam

Author(s): M V Patwardhan
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society

Page 13

xli
VAJJĀLAGGAM
general name, and Jayavallaha is the specific name given by the author to the present Vajjālagga. We do not, however, come across any other anthology in Prākrit bearing the general name vajjälagga in addition to some specific name given to it by its author. There is only one Vajjālagga known to Prakrit literature and that is the present one named Jayavallaha by its author.
The name Jayavallaha given by the author to the present anthology in st. 3, is rendered by Ratnadeva as Jayavallatta, without any further explanation of the significarer did:11:1).' Jayavallabha is perhaps to be taken as starding for vellati-ajaya (with transposition of the two words in the Bahuvili conjourd) and to be understood to mean "loving victory, fond of victory, victorious". It is also possible to equate Jayavallal ha with Jagadvallabha and in that case it would mean "loved by or dear to the (whole) world."2
(ii) Name of the Author:
Nowhere in the body of the VL do we get any indication Tegarding the name of the author or compiler of the anthology. It is, however, stated by the commentator Ratnadeva in his opening remarks on the first stanz., that a poet by name Jayavallabha, an eminent Sverāmbara Jaina, compiled the present anthology. The com nentator also tells us that though the poet Jayavallabha was himself well-versed in Sanskrit, he compiled the present anthology of Prākrit stanzas for the benefit of ordinary people who, though ignorant of Sanskrit, had an amorous or erotic bent of mind 3 Beyond this statement by the commenta
1. 59134 AT 417872294 1
2. Prof. N. A, Gore (Introduction p. iji) supports this latter explanation of the title Jayavallabha as applying to the present anthology, and calls attention to the epithet Aggeaffig (ATH ! ) appearing in st. 794,
3. SpathaTAJOHTOEHT ara Fala: siend favoglav 741 a Terra 57149लोवय, आत्मना संस्कृतपारंगतोऽपि प्राकृतगाथासंग्रहमिमं चकार ।