Tilakmanjarisara

SR No.: 002611
Original Sutra Author: Pallipal Dhanpal
Author: N M Kansara
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1969
Total Pages: 146
Language: Sanskrit, English
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 7 MB

Page 33

u wish to popularise such a work among the students of Sanskrit language and literature so that they may be led to read the original masterpieces. And such compendiums did serve as an aid to memorize the principal details of the stories of the classics as has been suggested by Shri Pradyumnācārya. 34
It is not known authoritatively why Pallipala Dhanapāla chose the medium of verse for composing his TMS, when he could have accomp lished the work in a better way in the prose itself. The reason might be, on the one hand, the one suggested above. by Shri Pradyumnācārya and, on the other hand, as has been suggested by the author hinself in his epil. ogue to the TMS, where he has almost confessed that this work was undertaken, at the instance of his father, as a sort of exercise in writing a poem in Sanskrit verse. Had the sole purpose been the preservation of the story of the original prose romance intact, the prose medium would have been more suitable as has been in the case of the Tila kamanjari-sangraba composed by Krsnamācārya (Abhipavabāņa), who, it seems, had as his ideal the well-known Kādambari-sära of M. S. Apte. 26
Pallipala Dhanapala's seems to be the earliest available attempt at epito. mizing a literary classic. His success seems to have started a similar fasbion among his contemporary and successive scholars wlio attempted similar works both based on the Tilakamanjari and on other popular Jain cassics. Among the latter type may be mentioned the Upamitibhavaprapañcākathāsāroddhāra of Devasūri (A, D. 1242) and the Samarādityasanksepa of Pradyumnasūri (A. D. 1269). It was a matter of prestige to be able to write in Sanskrit.
The TMS has been intended by its author to be nothiog more than a mere metrical compendium of the prose-romance of Kayi Dhanapāla. But it has actually resulted into a fine small-almost epic-poem possess. ing some of its structural epic characteristics such as the division into cantos, their apt nomenclature, change of metre at the end of each canto and so on. And the very heart of the epic, viz. the story and its spirit as well as a faithful reflection of an aspect of the contemporary religious life--that have been kept unchanged-have contributed to the epic atmosphere. Had the poet really intended to compose a full-fledged epic based on the story of Tilakamañjarı, he could have amply succeeded by elaborating some of the descriptions from the original source work. Essentially and faithfully based on the TM, but free from the limitations inherent in summarizing such an ornate prose-romance in a quite diffe. 24. of S. S. vs. 28 : Jød auferrafa ofà :
a ETHERIAA: Fæfataa 118011 25. Published from Dhulia in 1885,