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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The Campū, on the other hand, is a Sanskrit romance narrated in mixed prose and verse. Dr, Chhavinatha Tripathi has admirably summed up the characteristics of a 'Campu' form in a verse formulated by himself after a discussion of the problem in great detail. 24 He notices therein that the distinctive features of a Campū-kavya consist in that (i) it is composed in prose and verse style, (ii) is meant to be listened to rather than staged and witnessed, (iii) has a variety of formal literary patterns (bandhas), (iv) abounds in numerous discriptions, (v) is ornate, and (vi) delineates a variety of poetic relishes (rasas).25 On an examination of the extant specimens of the genre he has further noticed that from the point of the mode of narrative content, Campū works fall under three types, viz., (i) those in which the story runs unhampered from beginning to end, (ii) those in which the story forms but an introduction or an epilogue while the main body of text dilates chiefly on the descriptions of religious places or things, and (iii) those in which there is no story at all and the work chiefly occupies itself with the descriptions of places or discussions on matters didactic.26
Coming to the MRA proper, we find that it is composed in a mixed style of prose and verse both evenly balanced to an extent which would easily preclude the work from ever being classed either as a Katbā or an Akhyāyikā. The story is drawn from Jaina folklore and there is no complexity in the plot neccessiаting elaborate unfolding of events or boxing of the stories. The Jainas might regard king Nami and his mother Madanarekha to have been historical personages, so as to claim that the work, being a story about a historical personage, must be classed as an Akhyāyikā. But the hopes are belied when we are confronted with the fact that there are as many as four hundred and fortyseven (447) verses in the composition, many of them running in groups of twelve or more at a stretch, that there is no device of putting a significant verse or two at the beginning of the Ucchvāsas so as to bring out in advance, by way of dramatic irony, the central moral of the event proper sought to be narrated therein. Although the content might have suited an Akhyāyikā too, the literary form of the MRA being essentially and predominantly an evenly balanced mixture of prose and verse, it cannot possibly be called one of an 'Akhyāyika'.
The unmistable mixture of prose and verse, both occurring in quick succession at almost regular intervals, the utilization of some of the Campu
24. CKAAA, pp. 1-56 ; cf. p. 49 : ___गद्यपद्यमय श्रव्यं सबन्धं बहुवर्णितम् । सालकृतं रसैः सिक्तं चम्पूकाव्यमुदाहृतम् ॥ 25. Op. cit., pp. 47-49. 26, Op. cit., p. 39 ff.