An anonymous work, it features stories about several Jain authors and royal patrons, mainly from the Chaulukya kingdom of present-day Gujarat.
All the prabandhas in the anonymous collection appear to have been written by a single person, as suggested by the homogenous style.
[2] The content (for example, the references to Anahilapura Pattana) and the language of the text suggest that the author was a medieval Jain writer from northern Gujarat.
[1] A colophon entry in the manuscript copy mentions the date 1465 VS (1409 CE), which means that the original text must have been composed sometime earlier.
The successive scribes appear to have made attempts to correct and Sanskritize the previous work, although all the manuscripts include several scribal inaccuracies.
[11] The glory of kings lies in the tusks of elephants, of paupers in the shoulders of bulls, of warriors in the tip of [their] swords, [and] of ladies in [their] breasts The text features stories (prabandhas) about several Jains, including authors and their royal patrons.
[15] Maharaja ("Great King") Madanabhrama of Kanti lives in a luxurious palace, where he spends nearly all his time with his 5,585 queens and 9,000 other wives.
One day, king Jayasimha-deva of Gujarata encamps near Madanabhrama's capital after completing a victorious twelve-year military campaign.
The two kings eventually reconcile, and Madanabhrama tells Jayasimha to enjoy royal life instead of spending time on military campaigns.
[16] One day, a lady named Deva-damini derides king Vikramaditya of Ujjayini for not possessing a royal umbrella with five handles.
In five sub-stories, Vikramaditya goes through a series of fantastical adventures to fulfill the desires, marrying Deva-damini and another princess in the process.
Siddhi and Buddhi, two raulanis (female supernatural beings) from Kamarupitha of Gauda country, overhear this conversation.
They go to Patana, and ask Jayasimha to give up his title, insisting that a person cannot be a Siddha (one with supernatural powers) and a Chakravartin (a universal ruler) at the same time.
[19] After king Jayasimha returns to his capital from a successful military campaign, his mother Mayanala-devi asks him to visit the Parshvanatha shrine at Dabhol.
Using their magical powers, they force Paramardi's army to retreat, and return to their home in Jayasimha's capital Patan.
[21] Kumara Ranaka, the ruler of the city of Kidi-mankodi, has several female attendants who massage him, sing for him, and play music for him.
The two men take their dispute to king Jayasimha, before whom the merchant declares that the water would not remain in the lake if he had taken the jewels from Ranaka.
One day, his minister and astrologer Umapati Shridhara predicts that the queen will give birth to a son, who will fall in love with a girl from the lowest class at the age of 34.
Ratnapunja ascends the throne after his father dies, and at the age of 32, is attracted to young woman of the low-status Matanga class.
One day, after hearing songs glorifying the Arbuda mountain, Shri-mata remembers her previous birth: she was a monkey who died as a result of a snake-bite.
One day, a dialectician named Deva-maha-nanda arrives at Shri-pattana from the Gauda country, and challenges people to a debate.