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The racy, conversational style of numerous passages, marked with short sentences and vivid dialogues speak for the commendable powers of the author as a storyteller. He has handled the Ornate and the sinple style, the prose and the verse medium with equal feljcity.
Linguistically too the MK. is quite jateresting. The verb-subject-object sequence is a very obvious syntactic feature of many of its pariative passages. Of course, it is a trait shared by many earlier and later narrative prose works in Sanskrit, Prakrit and Old Gujarati. It requires to be studied periodwise, extensively and in depth. Besides this, we find a nu nber of Deśya words in the MK., which are attested for the first time and waich are valuable for New Indo-Aryan lexicology. The numerous Apabhraṁsa passages in the MK. offer us specimens of the Apabhraíša of Hemacandra's period. They are important metrically also, in view of the metres like Dohā, Rāsāvalaya, Şatpada, Vadanaka etc. employed in them.
Pandit Rupendrakurnar Pagaria deserves the thanks of all lovers of Prakrit language and literature for editing such an important narrative work. We look forward toh is edition of anothe, religious-narrative work of Vardhmāna sūri in Prakrit, viz., the Jug aidevacariya(SK. Yugādidevacarita), which is also fairly extensive(1 1000 Granthägras).
H. C. Bhayani
Jain Education International 2010_04
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