The ''Puratana Prabandha Sangraha'' ("Collection of Old

Prabandha Prabandha is a literary genre of medieval Indian Sanskrit literature. The ''prabandha''s contain semi-historical anecdotes about the lives of famous persons. They were written primarily by Jain scholars of western India (Gujarat and Malwa) from 1 ...

s") is a collection of

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

-language legendary biographies and anecdotes written by multiple Jain authors of India. It was edited by the Jain monk Jinvijay from several manuscripts, and published by the Adhisthata Singhi Jain Jnanapith (

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

) in 1936. The earliest manuscript in the compilation is dated 1290 VS (1233 CE). It is said to have been written by Jinabhadra, a disciple of Udayaprabha and a monk of Nagendra

Gaccha Gaccha, alternatively spelled as Gachchha, is a monastic order, along with lay followers, of the idol worshipping Murtipujaka Śvetāmbara sect of Jainism. Etymology ''Gaccha'' literally means "who travel together". History According to Jain ...

. It was commissioned by a minister named Jayatasimha, who was the son of

Vastupala Vastupāla (died 1240 CE) was a prime minister of the Vaghela dynasty, Vāghelā king Vīradhavala and his successor Vīsaladeva, who ruled in what is now the Gujarat region of India, in the early 13th century. Although he served in an administra ...

''Prithviraja Prabandha''

One of the legends included in the collection is ''Prithviraja Prabandha'', which describes the life of the 12th century Chahamana king

Prithviraja III Prithviraja III (IAST: Pṛthvī-rāja; 22 May 1166 – February 1192), popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora, was a king from the Chahamanas of Shakambhari, Chauhan (Chahamana) dynasty who ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, w ...

. The ''Prithviraja Prabandha'' contains 40 lines of prose in addition to two 6-line verses. Although a ''Puratana Prabandha Sangraha'' manuscript is dated 1471 CE, its portion containing ''Prithviraja Prabandha'' was written by another scribe. Therefore, ''Prithviraja Prabandha'' cannot be dated with certainty. The language of the text features

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and vernacular elements, which indicates that it was written at a later date. Some portions of the manuscript are damaged, and the meaning of some passes is not clear. The text describes Prithviraj's legend as follows: : Prithivraj captured the

Ghurid The Ghurid dynasty (also spelled Ghorids; ; self-designation: , ''Šansabānī'') was a Persianate dynasty of eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Tajik people, Tajik origin, which ruled from the 8th-century in the region of Ghor, and became an Emp ...

invader Shihab al-Din seven times, but released him unharmed each time (a claim that also occurs in the ''

Hammira Mahakavya ''Hammira Mahakavya'' (IAST: ''Hammīra-Mahākāvya'') is a 15th-century Indian Sanskrit kavya, epic poem written by the Jain scholar Nayachandra Suri. It is a legendary biography of the 13th century Chahamanas of Ranastambhapura, Chahamana king H ...

''). Prithviraj's minister Kaimbasa and his spear-bearer Pratapasimha were not on good terms with each other. Once Kaimbasa lodged a complaint against Pratapasimha with the king. However, Pratapasimha persuaded the king that Kaimbasa was a villain who had been secretly supporting Shihab al-Din. As a result, Prithviraj attempted to kill Kaimbasa by shooting an arrow at him in the dark, but ended up killing another man instead. : The king's bard Chand Baliddika criticized him in private for this attempted murder. Prithviraj dismissed both Chand Baliddika and Kaimbasa from his service, and as a result, Kaimbasa joined Shihab al-Din. When Shihab al-Din invaded his kingdom, Prithviraj spent time sleeping for ten days. After being awaken by his sister, he fled on a horse. Kaimbasa helped Shihab al-Din capture him by divulging information about a certain sound that made his horse prance. : While in captivity, Prithviraj asked Kaimbasa for a bow-and-arrow to kill Shihab al-Din, who would be seated in the assembly hall. The minister obliged, but also informed Shihab al-Din about Prithviraj's plan. Shihab al-Din kept a metal image in his place. Prithviraj shot an arrow at this image, mistaking it to be Shihab al-Din. As a punishment, Shihab al-Din ordered him to be put in a pit and stoned to death. When the neighbouring king Jaychand received the news of Prithviraj's death, he ordered celebrations in his capital.

''Prithviraja Prabandha''

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