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THE STORIES
27 brahmins are one day invited by Purandara to a ceremony, but he notices that before they have eaten his wife offers food to the image. 'Why bother about him still ?' he cries in exasperation. She realises that it was he who killed Arjuna and in revenge poisons him.
Certain motifs of the story are very familiar. The wife who sends her husband away on a fool's errand in order to be with her lover is no novelty, but it is worth noting that her fantastic wish does not seem to be a dohada. The hero who through his skill tames an elephant on must is equally well known.
3. The lion and the physician
In the BKK (Vaidya-kathānaka No. 102(3)) this short tale is used to exemplify ingratitude. The only modification is that the lion has become a tiger. In both cases the physician's home is in Benares 'where Jitaśatru was king.'
4. Metārya
This story seems to have been one of the most popular of all Jaina legends. So familiar was the material that in the MPCH concision is often carried to the point of obscurity in the narration and it is expressly noted that the story is ‘datthavvam annattha satthe'. The sixteenth century copyist who transcribed one of the MSS. used in this edition (MPCH : A) went even further and omitted almost the whole story from his text replacing it by a summary in five gāthās.
Metārya of course belongs to the oldest stratum of the commentary literature. The two recapitulatory verses (MPC 926 and 927, MPCH 437 and 438) are to be found in the Avaśyakaniryukti 869 and 870 and the Marana-samādhī 425 and 426, and the full narrative is given in the Avaśyakal commentaries with the same details as in the MPC.
Metārya figures in the Upadeśa-mālā of Dharmadāsa, verse 91 of which runs :
sīsāvedhena sirimmi vedhie niggayāņi acchīņī
Meyajjassa bhagavao na ya so manasā vi parikuvio 1 Āvaśyaka-sūtra Agamodaya Samiti ed. Purva-phāga, p. 492.
| SR No. | 007017 |
| Book Title | Two Prakrit Versions of Manipati Charitra |
| 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 |