The Rashtrakutas and their Times c23.s2.34

c23.s2.34

Karnatak was a great stronghold of Jainism in our period and the Jain authors had not forgotten that the founder of their religion had preached in the vernacular. We, therefore, find a number of Canarese authors in the 10th century, most of whom were Jains. The earliest and foremost among these is Pampa, who was born in 902 A.D. Though a native of Āndhrades'a he became the *ādikavi* of the Canarese literature. His *Ādipurāṇa*, which was finished in 941 A.D., is a Jain work, but his *Vikramārjunavijaya* is a more or less historical work, where he glorifies his patron Arikesarin II as Arjuna.⁴⁷ It is from this work that we get valuable information about the northern campaigns of Indra III in which his feudatory, Arikesarin II, had participated. Asaṅga and Jinachandra are other Canarese writers of this period, who are referred to by Ponna, but whose works are not yet forthcoming. Ponna himself flourished in the third quarter of the 10th century and is said to have been given the title of 'Ubhayakavichakravartin' 'Supreme among the poets of both (i. e. Sanskrit and Canarese) the languages' by Kṛṣṇa III, on account of his proficiency as a poet both in Sanskrit and Canarese. *S'antipurāṇa* is his principal work.⁴⁸ Chāmuṇḍarāya, a Jain general and minister of the Jain ruler Mārasimha II, was the author of the *Chāmuṇḍapurāṇa* which was composed in the 3rd quarter of the 10th century.⁴⁹ Raṇṇa, another Canarese writer of the 10th century, was born in 949 A.D. His *Ajitatīrthankapurāṇa* was finished in 993 A.D.⁵⁰ That Jain religious works of our period should have been mostly composed in the form of Puranas shows the immense influence and popularity of these works in the Deccan of our period.