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108
Aspects of Brahmanical Influence on the Jain Mythology
allied royal families is significant insofar as it has recognized the identical source of the two families This way, the present account supports the Brahmanical legend of relationship between the Saura and the Atla dynasties 96
Now, it will be of some value to present a comparative picture of some of the important personages represented in various works as the founders and progenitors of different royal families This will bring home to us the nature of transformation which they have undergone in different works of the same tradition These personages are, for instance, Puru, Somayasas, Somaprabha and Kuru, all connected with the Aila race according to the Brahmanical tradition
Puru
In all the works representing the Brahmanical epicPuranic tradition, Puru holds the same position of high honour as the progenitor of the main line of the Lunar race as does Iksvaku as the father of the Işvāku race All the brahmanical works show striking agreement in depicting him as an ideally dutiful son of king rajatt and illustrious forefather of the Kurus But in the carly texts of Jainism he does not find any mention, nor is the dynasty bearing his name referred to anywhere in those texts I is for the first time in JHV that the term Puru as the first constituent of the compound word Purudeva93 has been used as an attribute of Rsabha-Ikşvaku. Thus, we find that in JHV Puru has been denied his entity as an independent personality and his personal name has been adapted to an epithet of Ikşvāku However, a study of JHV
96 Note 94 (ante)
97 Though the youngest son of Yayatı, Puru is said to have received from him the ancestral kingdom as reward for the extraordinary service which he had rendered to his father, Vayu-P 93 28-75, 88-90, Also AIHT, PP 87-88, 101, 122, 144, 259-60
98 पूर्व सर्वपुराणाना त्व महामहिमा महान् ।
इह दीव्यसि यत्तेन पुरुदेव इतोष्यसे ||
JHV, 8 211
The first long vowel of the term has been shortened here to give the However, in the Brahmanical sources both
name a new appearance the forms are met with.
