In 779 AD, the scholarly monk Uddyotana composed a long novel written in kavya style and in a mixed form of prose and verse (campu)- the first of this genre known so far in Indian Literature - to which he gave the name of its heroine: Kuvalayamala "Garland of Blue Water Lilies". Much like Bana, who recounts the story of the love affair between Prince CandrapIda and the Apsaras Kadambari, Uddyotana presents to his readers the quest of Prince Kuvalayacandra for Princess Kuvalayamala. Uddyotana, how-ever, skilfully integrates this story into the ad-venture of religious initiation undergone by five characters struggling against their own passions who attain, in the end, to deliverance. Thus while giving to the Indian Literature a refined campLikavya in Prakrit, which was to become a source of inspiration for many later writers, Uddyotana was able to present also as a mirror of the complexity of the world with all its sufferings and all its joys and to convey to his audience the fundamental values of Jainism. For all these reasons, his work, the Kuvalayamala deserves to be lingered over long enough for the reader to discover all its many beauties. It is hoped that the present translation and the sets of glossa-ries will contribute to ensuring a full apprecia-tion of this jewel of Indian literature.
Jain writers are well-known for their important contribution to narrative literature in the Prakrit language, most especially in the variety of Prakrit known as jaina maharastri. Since the time of the emergence of the canon and, subsequently to this, in the commentaries, such as the Carta (6th-7th Centuries), these writers did indeed produce a large number of narratives illustrating various points of doctrine. Governed by a principle of didactic efficaciousness, these tales (kathii) were generally short, although they varied considerably in length comparatively to one another. Parallel to these there have also been produced, from around the beginning of the Christian era onward, various narrative works of much greater length. Of most of these, however, nothing remains today but their names. If the Tarathgavai of Padalipta was saved, in part, from oblivion, this was only because it gave rise, many centuries later, to an abridged version, the Tarathgalolci. Others, such as the Jasoharacaria of Prabhafijana or the anonymous Suloyatjcikahti are now known only through the texts that were inspired by them. There survives only one long narrative work in prose dating from a period close to that of the Curti: the famous Vasudevahihai of Sanghadasa composed some time before 587, which Jain writers have always considered as a prototype of the whole katha genre. This enthusiasm on the part of the Jains for the extended narrative is all the more remarkable because, at around the same period, Hindu writers tended to favour rather the verse form and poetic description, to the detriment of the narrative element. This is the triumph of the kavya style, illustrated not only by the master of the genre, Kalidasa, but (even more clearly) by his immediate successors, such as Bharavi and Magha (6th Century). Both these writers take a brief episode of the Mahabharata and unfold and develop all the themes that are comprised in it to form around two dozen song-like poetic texts. This clear division of literary production into kathc7 and kavya was, however, to undergo profound disruption during the centuries that followed.
§ 2. A renewal of genres
The 7th and 8th Centuries AD seem to have marked a turning point in Indian literary production. Various authors writing in Sanskrit display, with their works, a will to extend to prose that kavya style which had hitherto been reserved for verse. These works, indeed, bear witness to several major innovations. With his Tales of the Ten Princes, Dauclin composes a very refined work in the kavya style -distinguished in particular by an extensive and sophisticated use of nominal composition freed from the restraints of verse - embedding, within the "tale" structure, many shorter narrative forms. Bdua's Harsacarita bears witness to the same stylistic experimentation with the kavya mode in a non-versified form; but it is above all the same author's Kaclambari that illustrates all the innovations of the age: not only does it display a great poetic refinement; it also presents a complex structure that breaks with the repetitious model of the "tales". This worked enjoyed enormous resonance in Indian literature and influenced several different literary genres, from poetry through to the theatre, and authors of several different religious faiths and denominations.
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