Ponna - Kavichakravarthi [950-A.D]
Contemporaneous with pampa but living under more lucrative auspices was Ponna who had
the good luck to receive the title "Kavichakravarthi" [Emperor of poets] from Krishna 3rd
[Rashtrakuta's emperor], in whose imperial court he was a poet.
There may have been some rivalry between the Poets though they do not allude to each
other. Ponna was certainly very learned in the traditional lore of his times and was
rather proud of it. One of his works was "Bhuvanaika-Ramabhyudaya" which was the story
of the Lord Rama narrated in 14 chapters. Unfortunately, this work has not been recovered
as yet and may have been a secular work depicting the story of the RAMAYANA in the manner
of Pampa's Bharata or shudraka.
The poet had high opinion of the book and we have no means of confirming it. The "Santipurana" and "Jinaksaramale" are the two other works of Ponna as a poet. The
"Santipurana" is a tiny piece in praise of Jina. The story of "Shantinatha", the 16th Thirthankara is the subject matter of this work. The last three chapters are directly concerned with the story of Shanti and the first nine chapters are devoted to the stories of the previous birth of Jina. The stories do not have the quality to interest us and are narrated in a dull manner.
The formal and technical aspects of a JINA-PURANA are found here in abundance and have endowed the work. With some authority and prestige, a thousand copies of it were prepared and distributed. There are few verses in the work which aglow with some poetic idea or feeling and they delight the mind in the core, of an arid reading of the work. The verses are well turned out and have a finish of their own and betray stylistic qualities. Ponna is greatly indebted Kalidasa from whose work he taken about 200 verses and translated them into Kannada but he had the temerity to say that he was four time superior to Kalidasa! One cannot help feeling that he lacked the poetic heart and our final judgment of his powers will change for the better with the recovery of his other work.
Chavundraya 1st [978 AD]
One of the most famous personages of Karnataka in the 10th century was Chavundaraya, a minister under the Ganga's king Rachamalla [974-984 A.D] and the commander-in-chief of his army. He had fought a number of battles with neighboring chieftains and obtained a number of titles indicative of his velour. One of the titles was SAMARA-PARASHURAMA. He was a magnanimous person and spent most of his wealth in acts of religious charity. It was he who was responsible for consecration of the image of Bahubali at SHRAVANABELAGOLA. Gomateshwara is the gift to our nation and he is remembered on account of it. His patronage to men of letters and Jaina ascetics was liberal. He was one of the pillars of dharma in general and JINA-DHARMA in particular.
In the midst of his lousy life as a warrior and statesman, Chavundaraya could find time for literary pursuits in Sanskrit and Kannada. His work in Kannada is called the TRI-SHASTHI-LAKSHANA-MAHAPURANA or briefly Chavundaraya-purana. It narrates the stories of the 24 Thirthankaras and other personages. The whole work is written in prose except the introductory and concluding parts, which are in verse. It is a rapid summary of the contents of the ADIPURANA and the UTTARAPURANA written in Sanskrit by Jinasena and Gunabhadra. There is no other work in Kannada in which the stories of the 63 great men of Jainism are told and as such the work is important. It was written in prose so that ordinary folk could read and understand. There is no attempt at profundity. The prose is simple wherever there is a sequence of events to narrate and artificial and heavy elements of Jainistic doctrines occur. Occasionally, racy idioms peep out of general plainness of diction and lend some charm to the style. The prose is fit enough for the purpose, which the author had in his mind. After "Vaddaradhane", it is the earliest prose words in Kannada and is not worthy on that account. Chavundaraya is indebted to the Adipurana of Pampa, and Ranna, a contemporary of his, and was most probably a collaborator in the work. Hastimalla, a later writer of 1290 A.D was under the influence of Chavundaraya in his prose work called the Adipurana.
