Kuvalayamala Part 2

SR No.: 002778
Original Sutra Author: Udyotansuri
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1970
Total Pages: 368
Language: Sanskrit, English
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 12 MB

Page 131

92
KUVALAYAMĀLĀ
the tale is such that it presents inherent difficulties for dividing it properly in different sections.
Ratnaprabha compliments the Km for its captivating contents. He plainly states how he is composing his Campu in Sanskrit based on the earlier Prakrit work of the saint (Uddyotana), known as Dākṣiṇyacihna (I.9-10). He is quite modest about his poetic abilities (asāra-vacasă'pi mayā *2.34). He is after all summarising for his spiritual benefit (asyāḥ kathāyāḥ samkṣepaḥ kriyate svārthasiddhaye I.13b) the tale composed by (Uddyotana-) Sūri, Dākṣinyacihna, who received it from Hrī-devatā. In this tale, the importance of acquiring Samyaktva is emphasized; friends discharge their responsibility of mutual co-operation; and the essential objective is the attainment of Nirvāņa (*2.27-8).
Uddyotana describes the Km as a dharma-katha which has assumed the form of a samkīrṇa-katha (4.16); because it inherits the characteristics of different Kathās, it uses different metrical forms, it employs different narrative styles, and in it various languages (and dialects) are used (4.5 f.). The label samkīrṇa is all the more confirmed by the complex threads of the story which covers many lives of five souls, by author's richness of information and proficiency in different lores, by varied situations and descriptions, by manifold episodes and religio-didactic exhortations, by parables, sub-tales and conversations depicting different poetic flavours, and by religious elements seen everywhere in this work. Ratnaprabha does not describe his work in these terms, though he inherits some of these contents. However he calls his work a Campu. An admixture of prose and verse is the usual definition of a Campu. But this blending can be effected even in different ways. It appears that the Prakrit work, viz., Km was intended more for recitation than for a learned man's reading. That explains why some time the verses repeat the ideas from the earlier prose, why more than one piece of description is added in a context, why questions are put and followed by details and descriptions, why conversations are added, and why different languages and dialects are employed. The Km is both instructive and entertaining: it is informative enough to attract the intellectual aristocrat; but more than that, it caters to the tastes and sentiments as well of the popular sections of the society. The Kmk is essentially a Campu, written in a learned style following earlier models in elegant Sanskrit, though the religious teacher in the author is obvious in more than one place.
Ratnaprabha's object is to narrate the tale of Kuvalayamālā in an ornate style so characteristic of Campū works in Sanskrit: thus every attempt is made to present the structure of the story in its fundamental details, incidentally incorporating the didactic, religious and entertaining touches as concisely as possible. He closely follows the Prakrit text so far as the narration of the events is concerned; and the matter in both the works can be easily compared paragraph to paragraph.
Descriptions in Apabhramsa, conversations (sometimes in Paiśācī and often in colloquial Mid-Indian), elaborated details, contexts full of information from various lores and walks of life and long-drawn religious sermons are some of the specialities of Uddyotana. But longish descriptions of urban and natural situations, series of similes and strings of utprekṣās of Km are often passed over