ANANTHANATHA PURANAM
1.
ಅನಂತನಾಥಪುರಾಣಂ (Ananthanatha Puranam)
2.
anantanAthapurANam
3.
The
Venerated History of Ananthanatha Teerthankara
4.
Janna
5.
1230
A.D.
6.
Halebeedu (
7.
Jaina
8.
Hoysala Ballala and Narasimha
Ballala
9.
Kavichakravarthy
10. Poetry
11. Kanda Padyas (Exclusively)
12. Palm leaf and Paper
13. 1930
14. Srinivasachar D. and Rangaswamy Iyengar
15.
16. 1. Deveerappa H.and Padmanabha
Sharma M.C., 1972,
17.
The
popularity and the critical acclaim acheived by ‘Yashodharacharite’ has marginalised ‘Ananthanathapurana’
to a great extent. This work composed in the Champu
style is a biographical account of Ananthanatha or Anantha Jina, the 14th
teerthankara. This contains fourteen chapters
consisting of approximately 1400 poems. This is an expansion of about ninety
poems in the Sanskrit work ‘Uttara Purana’ written by Gunabhadracharya.
Unlike other epics in Kannada based on the lives of teerthankaras
‘Ananthanathapurana’ is confined to just two previous
incarnations of Ananthanatha. (Bhavavali)
The lives of Suprabha, Purushottama,
Madhu Kaithabha and Padmaratha are among various characters that appear in this
delineation.‘Ananthanathapurana’
is a full fledged epic following all the stipualtions
that were laid down for that genre. The eighteen mandatory descriptions (Ashtadasha Varnane) and the
customary descriptions expected in a Jaina classic
such as the conception, birth and the renunciation of the teerthankara
make their appearance with out fail. But all of them are very mechanical and shackled
by religious considerations. Even the descriptions of nature follow a set pattern.However ‘Ananthanathapurana’
contains a water shed in the story of Chandashasana, Sunanda and Vasushena. This of course is a love story that was doomed
to fail because of its illicit dimension. Chandashasana’s
genuine love for Sunanda the queen of Vasushena has a magnetic appeal for the modern reader. None
of the main characters can be faulted for their decisions and actions. However
one is left with a sense of despair at the death of Chandashasana
and Sunanda. Vasushena’s
decision to take up sanyasa looks mild in comparision. This is a love story narrated with lots of
power and passion even though it does not fit in to the general pattern of the
whole epic. If one remembers the fact that Janna unfolds another facet of these
issues in ‘yashodharacharite’, his major themes
become explicit. ‘Ananthanathapurana’ is replete with
Sanskrit vocabulary and compound words. This makes reading of the text rather
tough and un productive. Actually this work has little
to speak for itself but for the tragic tale of Chandashasana.
18. References: ‘Kavyasameekshe’ T.N. Srikantaiah,
1947, Kavyalaya,
19. Translations: Janna, Sharma T.R.S.,
Ancient Indian Literature volume 1, Ed. T.R.S. Sharma, Sahitya
Academy, 2000
20. Links