Two Prakrit Versions of Manipati Charitra

SR No.: 007017
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: R Williams
Publisher: Royal Asiatic Society
Publication Year: 1959
Total Pages: 384
Language: English, Prakrit
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

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THE STORIES
The history of the ascetic Maņipati—his renunciation of the world, the injury he sustains from a fire whilst engaged in the kāyotsarga, the accusation of theft levelled at him, his vindication and his subsequent destiny-forms no more than a tiny part of the whole work. It is the false charge made by Kuñcika which serves as a framework to introduce sixteen stories or parables confirming or refuting it, related in turn by the ascetic and the layman. In the MPCH each of these is labelled and numbered by a concluding verse which forms part of the text, and within the second story the narratives of the four munis are marked off by a formula of the type iti Siva-muni-kathānakam prathamam. In the MPCJ the main narrative and the stories told by Maņipati are in verse whilst Kuñcika is made to recount his tales in prose.. .
Of the sixteen parables the eight ascribed to Kuñcika deal with ingratitude and in the MPCH conclude with what is almost a formula : 'As did . . . so have you done, O muni, by stealing my money. Manipati's replies are more varied in their tenor : they extol discrimination and discernment and stress the danger of judging by appearances and coming to hasty conclusions (Nos. 6, 8, 10, 12, 14); but they are also designed (Nos. 2, 4, 16) to show that ascetics are never tainted by avarice. At the same time they expound the duties of laymen (sāvaya-dhammam suņasu). The narratives of the four munis turn on one theme -the inborn wickedness of women. In addition a number of shorter tales, mainly from folk-lore sources and with little apparent didactive aim, have been included in the frame-story and in the second parable. Of those occurring in the MPC and MPCJ two-Nos. (a), (b)—have been omitted from the MPCH.
The MPCH is about half as long as the MPC, and the MPCJ nearly twice its length but the proportions assumed by the different stories are more or less the same in each version. However the compiler of the MPCH has made considerable cuts by reducing to a minimum the account of Manipati's renunciation
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