Sambodhi 1993 Vol 18

SR No.: 520768
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: J B Shah, N M Kansara
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1993
Total Pages: 172
Language: English, Sanskrit, Prakrit, Gujarati
Classification: Magazine, India_Sambodhi, & India
File Size: 17 MB

Page 143

136
SAMBODHI Vardhamānasūri is also said to have composed an astrological work entitled Sakuna-ratnā vali.
Municandravijaya has consulted for this edition the following manuscripts : (1) The plam-leaf ms. of Sri Atmānanda Jaina Jnanabhandāra, Vadodarā; (2) a paper ms. of Sri Hemacandrasūri Jnānamandar, Pātan dated V. Sam. 1880; (3) a paper ms. of Sri Jainānanda Pustakālaya, Surat, dt. V. Sam. 1970; (4) a paper ms. of the same place dt. 1954 V. Sam. ; a paper ms. of Pātan, of 20th Cent. V. Sam. He has bases his critical text on the Surat ms., and for variants compared it with the mss. listed above at numbers one one, three and four, while the last two mss. have been used only sparingly.
The work comprises twenty Adhikāras, entitled (1) Dharmādharma-svarūpa, (2) Jinapūjā, (3) Gurubhakti, (4) Paropakāra, (5) Santoșa, (6) Samsāra, (7) Soka, (8) Kasāya, (9) Loka-viruddha, (10) Dāna, (11) Śla, (12) Tapa, (13) Bhāvanā, (14) Sistasanga, (15) Vinaya, (16) Visaya, (17) Viveka, (18) Mrdu-bhāṣita, (19) Dayā, and (20) Sangha-Pūjā. The text proper of the DRK comprises 376 Anustubh verses, which are taken to be gāthās by the editor, in Sanskrit, including the Mangala at the commencement and conclusion at the end. The extent of the whole work including the auto-commentary is calculated, on the basis of the hand-written mss., to be 9300 Anustubh verses, traditionally.
In this DRK, Vardhamānasūri has just referred to in pasing the story meant to be illustrated, and the elaborate story is narrated in his Sanskrit auto-commentary, e.g. the story of Malayasundari (pp. 15-17), of three sons of a businessman (pp. 18-23), of Ratnacandra (pp. 40-43), of Ratnasundara (pp. 54-63), and so on. At times he also quotes long Prakrit passages from the Jaina scriptural texts like the Prajñāpanā-sūtra(p.8), from Haribhadrasūri's Pañcāšaka (pp. 29-36), Jinacandrasūri's Samvega-rangasālā (pp. 42-44), from Pradyumnasūri's Vicārasāra-prakarana (pp. 136-137), and etc.
The auto-commentary, which thus contains numerous stories, parables and folklore, is a veritable mine for the study of mediaeval narrative literature of the thirteenth century A.D.
The editor has presented ample proofs to the effect that he is conversant with the modern norms of editing mediaeval Sanskrit and Prakrit texts, and as a result he has presented us with this edition which is but the first critical edition, in contrast to the one previously published in the form of an old-styled pothi. N. M. K.
A TREASURY OF JAIN TALES, edited by Prof. V. M. Kulkarni, Publ. Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre, Ahmedabad, 1994, pp. xxxix + 368 + N 41. Rs. 2001
Inspite of the fact that Prakrit narrative literature is the richest among world literatures, it is poorly known to the people at large, both in the East and more in the West. What is available in English is very meagre. In view of this situation, and possibly taking a clue from a similar project taken up in the West, the Prakrit Text Society