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The Jaina And Non-Jaina Versions Of The Popular Tale Of Candana-Malayagiri From Prakrit And Other Early Literary Sources
RAMESH N. JANI
The tale of Naravikrama appears in the Fourth Prastāva of Guņa
candra's Prakrit work “Mahāvīracariya" composed in V. S. 1139 (= 1083 A.D.). It is about the troubles of Prince Naravikrama, his wife and their two sons who are separated from each other. After much suffering and hardship all the members of the family are happily re-united. During this period of their calamities Naravikrama's wife Silavati's character is also tested. In the end both of them renounce the world.
This very tale has subsequently become greatly popular under the title : The Story of Candana and Malayagiri (which are but changed names of Naravikrama and Silavati).
In the present paper six different versions, five Jaina and one non-Jaina, of the story are studied comparatively. The earliest of the known versions was by Bhadrasena (about 1619 A.D.) and the latest by Śāmala (later part of the 18th century A.D.) The paper also points out that apart from variations regarding the extent, treatment, poetic merits etc., there are distinct diversions in the central motivations of the narrative. Incidentally, the growth and development of the story has also been examined. G.J.V. 15
.
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226 SHRI MAHAVIRA JAINA VIDYALAYA GOLDEN JUBILEE VOLUME OUTLINE OF THE STORY IN THE MAHAVIRACARIYA
Prince Naravikrama, the son of King Narasimha of Jayanti Nagari, married Princess Silavati the daughter of King Devasena of Harsapura. Once he saved the life of a pregant lady from the enraged royal elephant Jaya Kuñjara by killing it. Angered by the death of his favourite and auspicious elephant the king banished the prince from his kingdom. Silavati followed her husband undeterred by his persuasion to go to her father's kingdom.
Naravikrama leaves his father's capital Jayantinagari, and goes to Syandanapura along with his wife Šilavati and two sons, Kusumasekhara and Vijayasekhara. In Syandanapura the whole family works as servants of a Mali or gardener called Paṭala. Naravikrama and Silavati had to gather flowers from the garden and garlands. Silavati, again, had to go to the street with the Mali's wife to sell them.
Once when she was selling flower-wreaths a very wealthy sea-trader (Vahāņavati) named Dehilla was attracted towards her. Every day he used to buy wreaths from her and tried to create a very good impression on her. One day he asked her to deliver garlands on the sea-shore from where he was to sail for far-away countries. When Silavati went there he kidnapped her and sailed off.
Naravikrama, with his two sons, came on the bank of the river in search of his wife. Keeping his two sons awaiting he left for the other bank in search of Silavati.
When he reached half-way in the river, he was suddenly dragged by the powerful current of the flooded waters. He was, however, saved by a log of wood and ultimately reached the outskirts of the Jayavardhananagara. Kirtivarma the king of the city, had died all of a sudden without an heir to the throne and the ministers of the kingdom were out to elect a new king with the help of a devine elephant. The elephant spotted Naravikrama and garlanded him. According to the customs they made him their king.
Naravikrama was, nevertheless, very unhappy because of the separation from his wife and two young sons. He was advised by a holy Jaina monk to perform religious duties, so that he could be reunited with his family.
The waiting sons of Naravikrama were found and reared up by a shepherd who was quite friendly with the kings of Jayavardhananagara. When he came to visit the king along with his two adopted
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sons, Naravikrama immediately recognised them. Thus, the two sons and the father were united after a great deal of hardship and anxiety.
Dehilla, the wealthy sea-trader, after kidnapping silavati in his ship tried very much to win her over both with persuasions and by torture. But Silavati, true to her name, did not yield to his evil desires. As if angered by the evil designs of Dehilla his ship was caught in a storm by the goddess of the sea. The power of her chastity was unassailable and a heavenly voice, Ākāśavāņi, warned him with dire consequences if he continued to harrass śīlavati. Dehilla came to his senses and the storm subsided. He begged the good lady's pardon and promised to set her free.
On its long sea-journey Dehilla's ship anchored at Jayavardhananagara, the capital of Naravikrama. Dehilla went to Naravikrama to pay his homage. Naravikrama liked his company and wanted him to stay at his palace. At Dehilla's request the king sent his two sons to guard his ship, where they met their mother.
Thus, all the four of them were happily reunited and Naravikrama punished Dehilla.
Because of such momentous results Naravikrama was much impressed by the greatness of the Jaina Dharma and became all the more religious-minded.
King Narasimha, Naravikrama's father, came to know of his son's adventures and immediately sent for him. Naravikrama, after making over his throne to his sons, went to Jayantinagari. Narasimha took pravrajyā and Naravikrama succeeded him.
After years of just and benevolent rule Naravikrama also took pravrajyā along with his wife and attained the position of a god (deva) in the Mahendra Svarga'.
The Purpose of the Story :
The narrator of this episode in the Fourth Prastāva of the Mahāvīracariya lays a special stress on the Parva-Karma-Phala-Paripäka. The calamities that befall a man's life are nothing but fruits of his own past deeds. These can be undone by his faith in the Jaina Dharma.
Along with this central purpose of the story, the author also aims to praise the importance of faminine chastity. Here, even the goddess of the sea comes to the resque of the princess, and paves the way for her ultimate reunion with her family. We may point out that
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228 SHRI MAHAVIRA JAINA VIDYALAYA GOLDEN JUBILEE VOLUME
in all the subsequent Jaina versions of the Naravikrama-story, we find the self-same motivations of the all-powerful law of Karma and the glorification of Sila.
THE SUBSEQUENT VERSIONS:
As observed at the outset, we come across many Jaina versions of this story with Sila or chastity of character and glorification of the Jaina Dharma as its ultimate ends.
Dr. B. J. Sandesara has truthfully described seven early Gujarati Jaina versios of this story on the basis of the notes given in Shri Mohanlal Dalichand Desai's monumental work Jaina Gurjara Kavio. He has also noted the oldest version of Bhadrasena-a Jaina Muni-who composed it in V. S. 1675 (i. e. 1619 A. D.) Shri Sarabhai Navab has published this version with some introductory notes in the Acarya Anandasankara Dhruva Smaraka Grantha. The language of Bhadrasena's story is an early form of Vraja Bhāsā.
The respective authors of the above-mentioned Jaina versions are Jina Harsa (V. S. 1704), Sumati Hamsa (V. S. 1711), Ajita Canda (V. S. 1736), Jina Harsa (V. S. 1745), Yašovardhana (V. S. 1747), Catura (V. S. 1771) and Kesara (V. S. 1776).
Besides the Prakrit version and those noted by Dr. Sandesara several other Jaina versions of the story are also known.
The lone non-Jaina example is that of the famous medieval Gujarati poet Samal (later half of the 18th cent). His version has primarily a narrative interest. The purpose of his story is neither religious nor explicitly didactive. He has no doubt contributed, to a great extent, towards giving the story a wide-spread popularity.
The present writer has examined from a comparative point of view the following versions of the narrative under consideration besides the Prakrit and the Samal Versions: .....
1. "Candana-Miliyagiri Caupai."
(MS. B. V. B. 57) of Jina Harsa. Date of composition: V. S. 1704. 2." Candana Miliyagiri Rāso."
(MS. B. V. B. 58) of Rama Muni. Date of composition: V. S. 1711. 3. "Candana Malayagari Varta."
(MS. B. V. B. 59) of Bhadrasena, Date of composition: V. S. 1675.
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4. “ Candana Rājā Caupai."
(MS. B. V. B. 60) of Hiraviśāla-Sișya.
Date of Composition : V. S. 1620. 5. “Candana-Malayagiri-ni-Copãi".
(Of Pandita Ksema Harsa)
The last one is published but details regarding publishers, date of publiction etc. are not available. Date of composition is also not available.
Samala's version too, known as "Candana and Malayāgiri” is not a separate, self-contained composition but it is one of the stories (No. 8) of his story-cycle “Madāpacisi”, which in its turn is a part of his famous Vikrama-Cycle of legends called Simhasana Batrisi. In what follows, these different versions are compared from the point of view of their incidents and characters, which would incidentally also show, how the original Präkrit story fared in its later recountings.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE STORY: MODIFICATION OF INCIDENTS AND CHARACTERS
In the Naravikrama-story, his banishment was the direct result his killing of the king's favourite and auspicious elephant Jayakuñjara, while in Bhadrasena's “Candana-Malayāgiri-Värta" or “Caupai " the cause of the king (here, Candana) leaving his kingdom is altogether different. The calamitities that fell upon Candana are ascribed to the vagaries of Fate. One night Candana's family deityKula-Devatā'-warned him of his immediately impending calamities. So Candana left his kingdom instantly along with his wife and two sons, Sāyara and Nira.
The change found for the first time in Bhadrasena had come to stay and in the subsequent Jaina versions this initial episode is narrated practically in the same way.
In Śāmala Bhatta's story this initial story-motif receives a further modification and thereby it becomes dramatic. The warning to the king came in the mid-night, not in a dream but in reality. And the warning agency was not a dream-character, the Kula-Devata, but some mysterious voice actually heard. The voice spoke aloud :
“Shall I fall on you.......... When shall I fall on you-now or later?"
("Padū ?.... Padu?......" etc.)
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230 : SHRI MAHAVIRA JAINA VIDYALAYA GOLDEN JUBILEE VOLUME
The king in turn asked it to fall immediately. He wanted to brave it now, rather than to face it in his old age.
The adverse fate does strike him. The king is defeated by a neighbouring King Pundarika and he has to run away with his wife and two sons. The calamities also were lying in wait.
Now we can trace the roots of this motif in the PrabandhaCintamani of Merutunga (13th cent.) in its 'Suvarna-Purusa Siddhi Prabandha' which forms a section of the Vikramärka Prabandha (Chapters 3-7, First Ullāsa). In the "Suvarna-Purusa Siddhi. Prabandha' it is related that a wealthy merchant built a palace for himself. He spent a good deal of amount in its construction. During the construction and at the time of occupying his new building, he performed all the required religious rites. Yet on the very first night of occupation he was terribly frightened by a mysterious voice telling him “I am falling!". The wealthy merchant requested the unknown voice not to fall on him and ran away, that very moment, from his newly built mansion. Next day he told this story to King Vikrama, who after carefully hearing his plight purchased his house outright and went to sleep in it that very night. He also heard the same voice : “I am falling!".
The brave king told the Voice' to fall immediately. At that very moment a Golden statue'- Suvarna-Puruśa', the fruit of constructing the building in keeping with all the auspicious Muhurtas and rites-fell. Thus the great king Vikrama got the title "SuvarnaPurusa", which always became whole, notwithstanding cutting it out in slices.
There is another point also in which Śāmala's version differs from all of the earlier versions. The sea-trader Dehilla, of Gunacandra, Bhadrasena and others, is substituted in Sāmala by a land-routetrader--a Vanjārā, called Narapat-and as compared to Dehilla he is depicted a better man.
A Vanjārā is a well-known and familiar figure in the Gujarati folk-tales. He also appears in several other stories of śāmala mostly by the proper name Lākhā Vanjārā. He is a representative of the Vanjārā community-a very efficient merchant, very rich, and one who travels from place to place all over the country. He is generally a good man ready to perform benevolent deeds for the people. In Gujarat we find many wells, Vāvas', tanks and ponds associated with
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his name. His is a 'common' rather than a 'proper' noun. Narapat Vanjārā is a character moulded in the same pattern.
Malayagiri is not harassed but helped by Narpata Vanjärä. This character of a typical Vaṇjārā-mostly by the name of Lakhā Vanjārā is also a very interesting subject for the folk-tale study. We find the same romantic character in the well-known stories like Nemivijaya's Silavati-no-ras; Samala's Bhadra Bhamini and MadanaMohană etc. There are other innumerable short episodes which bring out the different facets of this lovable and famous Vanjara's character.
One significant point regarding all the versions is that all of them contain a key couplet which can be said to be a sort of the summing up of the story. In the non-Präkrit Versions the trenchant Duha couplet on the adversity of Fate is as follows:
"किहां चंदन, किहां मलयागिरि, किहां सायर, किहां नीर जिम जिम पडइ अवस्थडी, तिम तिम लड्इ सरीर । "
In Gunacandra's story too we find a Gāthā with a similar purport. There, Naravikrama, after losing his wife and sons says:
कह नियनयरथाओ ? कहेल्थ वासो ? कहिं गया भज्जा ? कह पुत्रोहि बिओगो ? कह वा नवे गहणं च १ ।
-P. 100, महावीरचरियं (Devchand Lälbhai Granthamälä, No. 75)
But the concept, "fazifagine!" etc., figures characteristically in many a medieval folk-tales and hence on account of it the "Naravikrama-Candana-Story" can be reasonably suspected of having a folk-tale origin and not an out-right creation of Guna candra.
This finds a support from the fact that the Duhd, "किहां चन्दन ? किहां मलयागिरि ff?" appears also in Karmapa's Sita-Harana (V. S. 1526-A.D. 1470) with a very slight difference. It also shows that this story might have been very much in vogue amongst the people much before either Karmana or Bhadrasena.
In all the versions of the story the small family of four-Candana Malayagiri and their two sons Sayara and Nira-are separated from each other; and they drift apart due to the vagaries of the Fate and the viles of man.
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________________ 232 : SHRI MAHAVIRA JAINA VIDYALAYA GOLDEN JUBILEE VOLUME Similar separation and reunion of near and dear ones due to the evil working of Fate and man is quite familiar to us from numerous medieval tales. Even the Puranic tales of Hariscandra-Taramati and Nala-Damayanti can be easily recalled in this context. From this comparison and citing of parallels and from the persistent popularity of the story over centuries it is quite likely that Gunacandra might not have been its originator. He might have only adapted it from the stream of folk-tales, current in his times, and modified it, especially in its beginning and end, to suit his purpose. LILLED eden DETERIORODOS Tec *