________________
PRAKRIT
291
various dramas. Suņraka is a unique character, quite unsurpassed. His songs and speeches in Māgadhi are well known for their puns and jokes. Rāksasa and his wife in the Vēnīsamhāra give us a description of the battle field in Māgadhi. But the stylistic basis of dramatic Prākrits is essentially Sanskritic; and the Desi elements are not freely admitted.
One type of drama, the Sattaka, is composed entirely in Prākrit; it resembles the Sanskrit Nātikā. The Karpurmanjari of Räjaśēkhara (ca 900 a. d.) is a love intrigue, closing happily in the marriage of Candpāla and Karpuramanjari who is brought to the palace miraculously by the magician, Bhairavānanda. Though accepted as one of the best comedies in the Indian literaure, it is more remarkable for its style and language than for its plor and characters, which are of the time-honoured mould. Rājasekhara is master of literary expression and matrical forms. His verses have a rhythmic ring anb liquied flow, His descriptions of nature are inlaid with vivid colour and grace. His proverbs, varnacularisms, allusions to customs etc, have a special interest. Rudradāsa, who was patronized by the zamorin of Cālicut (17 C.) wrote the Çandralēkhã Sattaka which celebrates the marriage of Manavēda and candralēkhā. His style is forceful but often with unwieldly compounds. Ghanaśyāma, a court poet of King Tulājaji of Tanjora mid 18th c. i, wrote the Anandasundari Sattaka, In the Rambhāmanjari of Nayacandra (ca. 15th C.), which dealswith the story of King Jaitra Simha of Benāras and Rambhā, the daughter of Māļavavarman of Gujarāt, is also a Sattaka which uses not only Prākrit but also Sanskrit. The Karpuramanjari has been a source of inspiration and a model for all subsequent Sattakas.
The Jain canonical works constitute an important section of Prākrit literature. Jainism admits, in this era, 24 ţisthankarās, who are responsible for the promulgation of the religion or dharma. The 22nd was Nāminātha, the cousin of Krsņa; the 23rd was Pārsvanatha whose historicity is accepted; the last was Mahavira (599-527 B. C.) whom Buddhist texts mention as Nigantha Nāțapuțţa. He was a senior contemporary of Buddha ( 563-483 B. C.); he came from a ruling clan; and he was related to the royal families of Magadha. The preachings
Jain Educationa international
For Personal and Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
