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INTRODUCTION
जं मए वहुव्वा ण वहिवं मज्म कज्जवप्पोहं 1 तं सहि मग्गपयाहिणवहुरावग्गो अदंसणपहावी ॥
Chāyā
1
यन्मन्यते कनिष्ठश्वश्रू नं परकार्य्यं मम कार्य्यस्तूपम् । तत् सखि मार्गप्रदक्षिणशिवानकूलदर्शनप्रभावः ॥
H
Eng. Trans.-It is the (inauspicious) influence, Oh friend, of witnessing a jackal and a mongoose on the rightside on the way, that the youngest mother-in-law regards the heap of my work as not of others.
li
Remarks-In Pischel's reading,
(literally of the youngest mothers-in-law) cannot be constructed with '' (thinks) which is left without any subject and the sentence remains incomplete. Besides the expression ag is inconsistent in itself. meaning the youngest mother-in-law can denote only a single person and is incompatible with plurality. By separating we get a negative sentence and can construe (mother-in-law) with as its nomina. tive. The stanza also thus becomes a fine picture of the tyranny of the youngest mother-in-law over her daughter-inlaw heaping all the work of the household on her alone instead of distributing it among others.
As the gathas when read in this way give a good sense they can no longer be regarded as examples of "incredible stupidity." They will be appreciated, it is hoped, by every lover of poetry as a remarkable feat of ingenuity worthy of Hemacandra and far beyond the capacity of his disciples to whom Pischel is inclined to ascribe them.
Pischel, Desinämamālā, Introduction, p. 8.
