________________
KAMSAVAHO
which ne definite clue is available from the Mss. However some circumstantial evidence may be noted here : Kaṁsavaho belongs to an age and country in which Prākrit texts almost necessarily required a Chāyā ; the Sanskrit Chāyā in the Ms. is so closely associated with the text that it has not got independent colophons, those in the square brackets being added by the editor ; both the Mss. give the same Chāyā, and as yet no Ms. of Kansavaho without the Chāyā has come to light; the Chāyā takes some liberty with the verbal forms of the text ; in some cases (i. 50) the metre is maintained even in the Sanskrit rendering ; and lastly Rāma Pāṇivāda himself has written a Chāyā for the Prākrit portions of his dramas like Sitārāghavanāțaka etc.45 Taking into account all these points, I am inclined to believe, of course tentatively, that Rāma Pāņivāda himself might have added this Chāyā to make his work intelligible even to those who did not possess the first-hand knowledge of Prakrit.46
45 A Triennial Catalogue of Mss., vol. VI-part 1. Sanskrit, Madras 1935, p. 7042, No. 5135 b.
46 A portion of this Introduction was read before the Prākrit Section of the Tenth All-India Oriental Conference, Tirupati, 1940.
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