Madanrekha Akhyayika

SR No.: 002639
Original Sutra Author: Jinbhadrasuri
Author: Bechardas Doshi
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1973
Total Pages: 304
Language: Sanskrit, Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 15 MB

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similar intentional literary device adopted by Subandhu in his Vasavadattā and more so by Trivikramabhatta in his Nalacampū.18 In the case of the latter, this similarity extends even to the colophones14 in point of mentioning their special stamp-mark (anka) put in the concluding verse of each of the Ucchväsas of their respective works.
The few minor changes newly introduced by Jinabhadrasuri in the story, as are quite apparent from the above tabular comparision, may not be, very substantial from the point of view of the development of the story element, but they are significant in so far as they serve to refine a few crude, though minute, details pertaining to the personality of the central personage, viz., Madanarekhā, as an exalted ideal of chaste womanhood amply deserving the canonized status she has acquired in the Jaina mythological or folk tradition.
Our author's originality in handling the story lies in the very fact of his totally different attitude to it. Although he regards the basic story of the MRA as a part of the life-story of king Nami, the cannonized Pratyeka-buddha of Jainism, he is out to compose a literary work principally centred around the virtuous life of Madanarekha, the exalted mother of the Pratyeka-buddha. All the embellishments of the story and the additions and elaborations of all possible motifs follow from this basically different approach which demands a poetic touch calculated to enhance the central character sought to be exalted and to harness the motifs to the dual purpose of poetic delineation and the religious moral the story is expected to convey.
VII : The Form : The Content vis-a-vis the Colophone :
It is rather intriguing to find that, while the title “Madanarekhaakhyayikha" as based on the colophones of the Ucchvāsas,15 arouses a hope that we have come across another Sanskrit work of 'Akhyāyika' type, it is belied at the very outset when the author himself expressly shows favour for the "Kathācampu" form in one place, 16 calls his work "Pratyeka-buddha.
13. Cf. NC, Intro. vs. 22 ab : ***
2 1ai ar ari etc. 14. Cf. MRA, P. 40 :
इति श्रीजिनभद्रसरिविरिचितायां मदनरेखाख्यायिकायां श्रीमन्न मिचरित्रापराभिधायां yeagi............etc.; cf. NC, p. 82 :
इति श्रीत्रिविक्रमभट्टविरचितायां दमयन्तीकथायां हरचरणसरोजाङ्कायां...etc. 15. Cf. MRA, pp. 40,66,93,131,168. 16. Op. cit., Intro. vs. 24,