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श्री यतींद्रसूरि अभिनंदन ग्रन्थ
literary qualities. The Vaśudēvahindi of Samghadāsa and Dharmadāsa (before 66 A, D.) is a voluminous prose tale, elaborately recording the wanderings of Vasudeva of Harivamsa and including a good deal of extraneous matter in the form of sub-stories, legends and fables.
Silacārya wrote his Mahāpurusacarita, dealing with the lives of Salākāpurusas, in 868 A. D. of about the 10th C. the Kālakācāryakathānaka narrates the story of how the saint Kālaka went to the Saka Satrapas called Sahis and with their help overthrew Gardabhilla, a king of Ujjaina, who had kidnapped his sister Sarasvati. The author shows poetic skill and observation. Dhanēsvara's Surasundaricariya ( 1038 A. D.) is a lengthy romance in 16 cantos, which narrates the love story of Vidyadhara chief who passes through hope and despair. The story within a story technique is handled successfully; the narration of events is quite smooth; the descriptions are worthy of a poet. The Pancamikahā of Mahēsvarasuri (before the mid llch C.) celebrates, through illustrative stories, the importance of the observance of Sruta-pancami. In simple and narrative style, the life of Vijayacandra Kēvalni, in 1063 gāthās, was composed ( 1070 A. D.) to illustrate the merits resulting from eight-fold worship. Vardhamāna, pupil of Abhayadēva, wrote two works; the Manoramācarita ( 1083 A. D.), a romance of religious learning, and the Adināthacarita ( 1103 A. D.) a Puranic epic dealing with the life of the first Tirthakara. The Supāsanāhacariya (1143 A. D.) is a bulky work giving the life of the 7th Tirthakara from his earlier births to liberation. It is full of religious preachings, all of them conveyed with suitable stories of the type common in Jain works. The author has a remarkable command over the language. Just 11 years after the death of king Kumārapāla-praţibodha ( 1195), a lengthy tale of the conversion of the King to Jainism, with many stories to illustrate its principles. Some sections are written in Sanskrit. In addition to their literary interest, such narratives are rich in pictures oi the life of their times.
With the narrative work in Apabhramba, we feel we are
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