Aspect of Jainology Part 3 Pandita Dalsukh Malvaniya

Author(s): M A Dhaky, Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 341

UTTARAJJHAYAŅA-SUTTA XIV : USUYĀRIJJAM
K, R. Norman
The fourteenth chapter of the Uttarajjhayana-sutta,' entitled Usuyärijjam tells of the two sons of a purohita, named Usuyåra, who determine to leave the world and become (Jaina) monks. Their father tries to dissuade them, but fails. He follows them after they have gone forth, and is followed in turn by his wife. The king proposes to confiscate his property, but is dissuaded by the queen. He too goes forth, and the queen follows him. Jataka No. 509 of the Pāli collection (Hatthipala-játaka=Ja IV 473-91) tells what essentially is the same story, although there are some minor diflerences, e. g. there are four sons. The parallels between these two texts, also with some verses of the Mahābhārata, were long ago noted by Western scholars, and studies of their relationship were made by Leumann?, Franke, s and Charpentier.4
In both the Pāli and the Pkt versions the story is told in a mixture of Iloka and tristubh verses. In the Ja version there are 26 verses, of which 20 are tr. and 6 $1.; the Pkt version has 53 verses, of which 32 are tr. and 21 $1. Although the stories are similar, the direct parallels in the verses are not numerous. Among the tr. verses only six are held in common, and in several of these the parallelism extends only as far as a single pada. Portions of three fl. verses in the Páli are found in four fl. verses in the Pkt. On sl. verse in the Pkt corresponds to a tr. verse in the Pāli. With one exception, in śl. metre, the verses held in common all occur in the dialogues between the various characters in the story.
It has been pointed out by Alsdorfs that in such stories in mixed verse, the earliest version was probably in pure tr. verses, and the fl. verses probably 1. Abbreviations : Utt=Uttarajjhayaņa-sutta : JaJätaka; Say=Sūya.
gadamga; Mvu=Mahāvastu; MBh=Mahābhārata; tr.= trisțubh; $1.= śloka; v (v). = verse (s) in Utt; g (g).=gāthà(s) in Ja; Skt=Sanskrit; BHS
= Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit; Pkt=Prakrit; AMg= Ardha-Māgadhi; PED= Päli-English Dictionary; v. 1. = variant reading; cty=
commentary. 2. E. Leumann, WZKM 6 (1892), pp. 12 foll. 3. R. Otto Franke, "Játaka-Mahābhārata-Parallelen", WZKM 20 (1906),
pp. 317-72 ( = Kleine Schriften, pp. 344-99). 4. J. Charpentier, "Studien über die indische Erzählungsliteratur”, ZDMG
62 (1908), pp. 725-47 (=Charpentier, 1908). 5, See L. Alsdorf, "Das Jätaka von weisen Vidhura", WZKS 15 (1971),
p. 56.