________________
· 36
On comparison of the two versions of Nemicandra-gani and Amradevasūri It gets clear that it was the former's verson that was most probably the traditional one, since it is chronologically earlier than the latter's. Āmradevasūri seems to have simplified his version in view of his context of narrating the story as an illustration of how the merits of the former birth invariably bear fruits in the subsequent births, 11
Again, the comparision of both these versions with the one of Jinabhadrasuri clearly shows that it is to Nemicandra-gani to whom our author is indebted for the basic outline of the story.
The influence exercised on the author of the MRA, by some of his predecessors in the field of Sanskrit literature is quite transparent in many places. The introductory verses, in points of the order of the personages saluted, their style based on simile and poetic allusions involving paronomasia, easily reminds us of the style of Dhanapala the author of the Tilakamañjari. Dhanapala's introductory verse number 50 setting forth the circumstantial purpose inspiring the author to undertake the composition of his work is clearly mirrored in a similar introductory verse number 37 of the MRA. It is most probably from Dhanapāla that Jinabhadrasūri seems to have adopted the effective use of Vaitālika's utterances for the purpose of dramatic Irony. The influence of Haribhadrasuri the author of the Samaraiccakaba, of Udyotanasūri the author of the Kuvalayamala, and of Somadevasūri the author of the Yaśastilaka-campū is amply visible in the didactic passages propounding the tenets of Jaina ethics and refutation of Cārvākist ideas, and in the panegyric addressed to to Jina. The effectiveness of the descriptions of women madly rushing to the windows to see the hero entering the city in procession, in the Buddhacarltam of Aśvoghosa, in the Raghuvamśam of Kalidasa, and other epics of later authors have inspired Jinabhadrasüri to take an opportunity to try at it in a suitable context towards the end of the MRA. And there can be no doubt that it was Sukanāsa's famous exhortation to Candrāpida in Bana's Kadambari that has attracted the attention of our author in adopting a similar motif at a similar juncture in the story. Lastly, the style of the descriptions, delineations and dialogues, involving dual breaking-up of the syllables of the double-meaping qualificatory phrases running incessantly throughout the composition,12 easily reminds of the
11. AMKV, p. 276 :
अपरमपि विभूत्यादिकं यद् यस्य पूर्वपुण्यजनितं तत् तस्यावश्यमेव जायते इत्येतदाह-जं जस्स
पुव्वविहियं सो तं पावेइ एत्थुदाहरणा । करकंडु-नमी तह चारुदत्त-वणिबन्धुदत्ता य॥४॥ 12. MRA, Intro, vs, 55 ab:
प्रत्यक्षरोचितरसोन्नतचित्रभङ्गश्लेषा समुत्सुकविभावितविग्रहादिः । etc.
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