Prabandha-Kosha
Title origप्रबन्धकोश
AuthorRajashekhara Suri
CountryIndia
LanguageSanskrit
SubjectCollection of biographical legends
Genreprabandha
Pub date1349 CE

Prabandha-Kosha (IAST: Prabandhakośa) is an Indian Sanskrit-language collection of prabandhas (legendary biographical narratives). It was compiled by the Jain scholar Rajashekhara Suri in 1349 CE.[1][2] It describes the lives of 24 people, including 10 Jain scholars, 4 Sanskrit poets, 7 kings and 3 Jain householders.[3] It is also known as Chaturvinshati Prabandha.[4]

The content of the collection is based on the information that Rajashekhara obtained from his teacher Tilakasuri. He composed the work at Delhi, under the patronage of Madanasimha, whose father had been honoured by Shri Mahamad Shahi (probably Muhammad Tughluq).[5]

Only the 7th prabandha in the collection (the one about Mallavadi-Suri) is written completely in verse form; the rest of the prabandhas use colloquial Sanskrit prose.[4]

Content

The Prabandha-Kosha contains 24 prabandhas (anecdotes), with 4,300 shlokas (verses), on the following persons:[5]

Suris (Jain scholars)

  1. Bhadrabahu and Varaha
  2. Aryanandila
  3. Jivadeva-Suri
  4. Aryakhapata Acharya
  5. Padaliptasuri
  6. Siddhasenasuri and Vriddhavadi
  7. Mallavadi-Suri
  8. Haribhadrasuri
  9. Bappabhattisuri
  10. Hemachandrasuri

Poets

  1. Harsha
  2. Harihara
  3. Amarachandra
  4. Madanakirti

Kings

  1. Satavahana
  2. Vankachula
  3. Vikramaditya
  4. Nagarjuna
  5. Udayana
  6. Lakshmana-Sena (or Lakshana-Sena) Kumaradeva
  7. Madanavarman

Jain householders / courtiers

  1. Ratna-Shravaka
  2. Abhada-Shravaka
  3. Vastupala and Tejapala

References

  1. ^ Phyllis Granoff 1993, p. 140.
  2. ^ Sen 1999, p. 79.
  3. ^ Vishnulok Bihari Srivastava 2009, p. 279.
  4. ^ Jayant P. Thaker 1970, p. 20.
  5. ^ J. G. Bühler 1873, p. 31.

Bibliography