The Rāso Literature is famous particularly as the style for heroic tales of Rajput kings from the 14th to 16th century. But the early Rāso literature was known first by Jain writers. The Jains composed numerous hagiographical works in the Prakrit or Apabhraṃśa languages for centuries. They adopted the Rāso style mainly for writing hagiography from the 12th century.
We can classify Jain Rāso works into several genres. It is likely that the hagiographical Rāso is a near descendant of the Jain Prakrit or Apabhraṃśa literature. There are, however, several non-hagiographical Jain Rāso works.
This study attempts to show the influences of the Saṃdhi-bandha style of the Apabhraṃśa literature on the formation of the Rāso style. Moreover, we suggest that the early Rāso literature includes many genres and styles that have been differentiated into heroic Rāso, Carcarī, Phāgu, Bārahmāsā, and so on.
