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श्री यतीन्द्रसूरि अभिनंदन ग्रंथ
are attributed to Bhaḍrabahu, and are undoubtedly prior to Devarddhi's council. Some of them in turn, on account of their systematic exposition, accuracy of details, and solidity of arguments became the object of learned labours of great scholars. For instance, Jinabhadra Kśamāśramana (609 A. D.) wrote a highly elaborate Bhasya in prakrit on the Avasyaka Niryukti, around which has grown a little world of literature. Bhasya and Curni commentaries are found on some works. Bhasya is an elaborate exposition, at times incorporating and supplinobting the Niryukți verses, of the text in Prakrit; while Curni is a prose gloss written in a bewildering admixture of Prakrit and Sanskrit. Jinadāsa Mahaṭṭara wrote his Nandi Curni in 676 A. D.
२९४
The popular gatha had already found its, way not only into the Pali canon but also into that unconventional drama, the Mrcchakatikam of Suḍraka; and with its melodious ring & sentimental setting it is successfully handled by Kalidas, especially in the mouths of his heroines. A large body of popular lyric songs in Prakrit, especially in Maharastri, appears to have grown a couple of centuries or earlier than Kalidas. A collection of some 700 gāthās, the Saṭṭasai, attributed to Hala, has come down to us. He is in reality its editor, a literary artist of some eminence; he has collected these verses, along with a few of his own composition, from a large mass of popular songs, and presented them in a literary style with special attention to the choice of setting, themes and sentiment. Hala's collection is important not only for its artistic grace and poetic flourish but also as an evidence of the existance of a large mass of early secular Prakrit literature, in the formation of which women, too, took active part.
Its themes are primarily drawn from the rural life, but the presentation is rarely repugnant to the cultured test. The seasonal settings, the countryside, the village folk, the flora and fauna-all these have remarkably contributed to the realistic sketches which these poets draw in one or two stanzas. The chief sentiment is erotic, at times openly put; and the turn of love, with their peculiar Indian ceremonies and conventions, are depicted in a vivid
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