Some Aspects of Indian Culture

SR No.: 001132
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A S Gopani, Nagin J Shah, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1981
Total Pages: 211
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Discourse
File Size: 15 MB

Page 119

12
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE TRADITIONS RELATING TO JAMBU AND
THE STORIES ABOUT HIM *
It is now clear that according to the Vasudevahindi the story of Jambu starts right from his conception, birth, youth, Guru's exhortation, detachment, marriage with eight brides because of parents' insistence, Prabhava's arrival for looting, intervening sub-stories told by Jambu and the wives to the enlightennent of all ending in initiation. Till now the story has proceeded further but now it takes a backward turn as Kunika expressed his desire to know something about the previous birth of Jambu. Thus we come across the story of Vidyunmāli and going still downward the stories of Bhavadatta-Bhavadeva, and Sagardatta-Sivakumāra are told. The account of Jambu in Vasudevahindi ends here.
In Guņabhadra's Uttarapuraņa also, the story of Jambu, as above in Vasudevahiqdi, starts with Jambu himself and then to provide a logical metaphysical ground for his life as such the stories of his earlier births are recounted in the order of Vidyunmali, Sagardatta-Sivakumāra, Bhavadatta-Bhavadeva. The story comes to a stop when Bhavadeva, returns home and undertakes hard purificatory penance seeing the wretched condition due to poverty, his wife, Nagasri was reduced to.
The difference between the two versions as found above in the two works, namely, Vasudevahindi and Uttarapurāņa, is almost negligible except in the constitution of the two works as well as the employment of the intervening stories and their size which varies without any specific reason.
The earliest traces of the story of Jambu are no doubt there in the canon. It then went on being transmitted according to the common phenomenon applying to all literatures. Thus in course of time it become crystalised in semi-legendary, semimytbological literature and this particular form was taken as basic by Vasudevahindi and Uttarapurāpa, though the form was too crude to be woven into a well-knit fabric. Even casually looking at both these works, it becames immediately clear that there is no real connection between the story of the last birth and those of the previous births where and in the shape they are referred to in the works. Merely, the relevence of the story of Vidyunmali is somewhat, not much, visible. The readers' curiosity to know more about Jambu's previous births diminishes after having • The contents of this article have been collected from the Introduction, besides other sources,
of Vira's Jarabusamicariu (edited by Dr. Vimalaprakash Jain, Bharatiya Jñanapith Prakasan, No. 7, 1968) the relevant portion of which, as on pages 37 to 39 is reproduced here in English.