Asaga

For the village in Samoa, see Asaga, Samoa.

Asaga
Bornc. 800 CE
Occupationpoet
PeriodRashtrakuta literature
GenreJain literature
Notable worksVardhaman Charitra (Sanskrit, c. 853);
Karnataka Kumarasambhava Kavya (Kannada, about c.850)

Asaga was a 9th-century[1] Digambara Jain poet who wrote in Sanskrit and Kannada language. He is most known for his extant work in Sanskrit, the Vardhamana Charitra (Life of Vardhamana). This epic poem which runs into eighteen cantos was written in 853 CE. It is the earliest available Sanskrit biography of the last tirthankara of Jainism, Mahavira. In all, he authored at least eight works in Sanskrit.[2] In Kannada, none of his writings, including the Karnataka Kumarasambhava Kavya (an adaptation of Kalidas's epic poem Kumārasambhava) that have been referenced by latter day poets (including Nagavarma II who seems to provide a few quotations from the epic poem in his Kavyavalokana[3]) have survived.[4][5][6][7][8]

His writings are known to have influenced Kannada poet Sri Ponna, the famous court poet of Rashtrakuta King Krishna III, and other writers who wrote on the lives of Jain Tirthankaras.[9] Kesiraja, (authored Shabdamanidarpana in c. 1260 CE), a Kannada grammarian cites Asaga as an authoritative writer of his time and places him along with other masters of early Kannada poetry.[10]

  1. ^ Singh, Nagendra Kr; Baruah, Bibhuti (2004), Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Pali Literature, Global Vision Publishing, p. 96, ISBN 978-81-87746-67-6
  2. ^ Dundas, Paul (2002). The Jains-Library of religious beliefs and practices. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-26606-8.
  3. ^ R S Hukkerikar (1955), p.88, Karnataka Darshana, Popular Book Depot, 1955
  4. ^ Pollock, Sheldon I. (2006). The language of the gods in the world of men- Sanskrit, culture, and power in premodern India. University of California Press. p. 341. ISBN 0-520-24500-8.
  5. ^ Mukherjee, Sujit (1999). A Dictionary of Indian Literature: Beginnings-1850. Orient Blackswan. p. 27. ISBN 81-250-1453-5.
  6. ^ Singh, Narendra (2001). Encyclopaedia of Jainism. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. p. 1516. ISBN 81-261-0691-3.[permanent dead link‍]
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference dig was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Mugali, Ram Śri (1975). History of Kannada literature. Sahitya Akademi. p. 14.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference naya was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Kulli, Jayavant S. (1976). Kēśirāja's Śabdamanidarpana, Volume 25 of Rajata mahōtsavada prakataneh. Karnataka University. p. 17.